334^1 
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EXPOSITIONS  OF  HOLY  SCRIPTURE 


Expositions  of  Holy  Scripture 


A  Commentary  on  the  Entire  Bible, 
to  be  Completed  in  Thirty  Volume* 


ALEXANDER  MACLAREN,  P.P.,   LIT.D. 

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I.  Alexander  Maclaren's  incotnparable  position  as  the  prince 
of  expositors  has  for  more  than  a  generation  been  recognized 
throughout  the  English-speaking  world.  He  holds  an  unchallenged 
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treasure  store  of  Dr.  Maclaren's  life-work,  will  be  found  of  price- 
less value  by  preachers,  teachers,  and  readers  of  the  bible  generally. 


.  What  Ministers  say  of  Dr.  Madaren 

Thbodork  L.  Ctttlkr,  D.D.  :  "  Al- 
exander Maclaren  is  the  King  of  Preach- 
ers." 

W.  Robertson  Nicoll,  D.D.,  LL.- 
D. ;  "  He  is  the  Prince  of  Expositors." 

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present  idea  of  gathering  the  cream  of 
Dr.  Maclaren's  expository  genius  from 
Genesis  to  Revelation  is  a  fitting~climax 
to  his  splendid  contributions  to  scripture 
exposition." 

Marcus  Dods,  D.D. :  "Dr.  Maclar- 
en is  one  of  those  exceptional  men  who 
can  afford  to  print  all  they  utter.  Spir- 
itual wisdom,  sound  and  lucid  exposi- 
tion, apt  and  picturesque  illustrations." 


What  the  Press  says  of  Dr.MacIarea 

"  These  volumes  are  a  treasury  of 
thought  for  preachers,  Sunday-school 
teachers  and  all  who  study  the  scriptures 
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man."— TJu  BritUh  IVetkly,  London, 
England. 

"  Taken  all  in  all  'Expositions  of  Holy 
Scripture'  equal  if  not  exceed  in  value  for 
ministers  any  similar  body  of  production 
— ancient  or  modem." — Tk«  Oiservtr, 
New  York. 


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FIRST  SERIES,  SIX  VOLUMES 
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Second  Book  of  Kings,  from'  Chap.  7.  Chronicles,  Ezra 

Nehemiah    ,    Esther         Job         Proverbs        Ecclesiastes 


THE 

SECOND   BOOK   OF   KINGS 

FROM  CHAP.  VIII.,  AND  THE  BOOKS  OF 

CHRONICLES,   EZRA,  AND 
NEHEMIAH 


BY 

ALEXANDER    MACLAREN 

D.D.,  LiTT.D. 


NEW  YORK  i 

A.  C.  ARMSTRONG  AND  SON 

3  &  5  WEST  EIGHTEENTH  STREET 

LONDON:  HODDER  AND  STOUGHTON 

MCMVIII 


CONTENTS 

THE  SECOND  BOOK  OP  KINGS 

PAQB 

Thb  Story  os*  Hazabl  (2  Kings  viii.  9-15)    .  .  .1 

Impure  Zbal  (2  Kings  x.  18-31)         .  .  .  •         6 

Jehoiada  and  Joash  (2  Kings  xi.  1-16)        .  .  .13 

Methodical  Liberality  (2  Kings  xii.  4-15)  .  .       19 

The  Spirit  of  Power  (2  Kings  xiii.  16)       .  .  .24 

A  Kingdom's  Epitaph  (2  Kings  xvii.  6-18)  .  .  .33 

Divided  Worship  (2  Kings  xvii.  33)  .  .  .40 

Hbzbkiah,  a  Pattern  of  Devout  Life  (2  Kings  xviii. 

5,6)     .  .  .  .  .  .  .47 

♦He  uttered  His  Voice,  the  Earth  Melted'  (2  Kings 

xix.  20-22;  28-37)  .  .  .  .  .54 

The  Rediscovered    Law    and    its    Effects    (2  Kings 

xxii.  8-20)         ......        60 

The  End  (2  Kings  xxv.  1-12)  .  .  .  .66 


vi  CONTENTS 

THE  FIRST  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES 

FAQB 

The  King's  Potters  (1  Chron.  iv.  23)  ,  ,  .       74 

David's  Choristers  (1  Chron.  vi.  32,  R.V.  margin)  ,       7» 

Drill  and  Enthusiasm  (1  Chron.  xii.  33)    .  .  •       8f 

David's  Prohibited   Desire  and  Permitted   Sbbtiob 

(1  Chron.  xxii.  6-16)     .  .  .  .  .98 

David's  Charge  to  Solomon  (1  Chron.  xxviii.  1-10)  .     101 

The  Waves  op  Time  (1  Chron.  xxix.  30)      .  ,  .106 


THE  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES 

The  Duty  of  Every  Day  (2  Chron.  viii.  12-13,  R.V.) 

Contrasted  Services  (2  Chron.  xii.  8)        , 

The  Secret  of  VicJtory  (2  Chron.  xiii.  18) 

Asa's  Reformation,  and  Consequent  Peace  and  Vic 
TORY  (2  Chron.  xiv.  2-8)  . 

Aba's  Prayer  (2  Chron.  xiv.  11)       .  .  . 

The  Search  that  always  Finds  (2  Chron.  xv.  15) 

Jehoshaphat's  Reform  (2  Chron.  xvii.  1-10)  . 

Amasiah  (2  Chron.  xvii.  16)  .  •  •  • 

•A  Mirror  for  Magistrates'  (2  Chron.  xix.  1-11) 


114 
121 

120 

136 
130 
147 
165 
161 
165 


CONTENTS 


Vll 


PAOB 

170 
176 
184 


A  Stbangb  Battlb  (2  Chron.  xx.  12)  ,  . 

Holding  Past  and  Held  Fast  (2  Chron.  xx.  20)    , 

JOABH  (2  Chron.  xxiv.  2,  17)  .  .  ,  . 

Olad  Givers  and  Faithful  Workebs  (2  Chron.  xxiv. 

4-14)     .......      191 

Prudbncb  and  Faith  (2  Chron.  xxv.  9)       .  .  ,190 

JoTHAM  (2  Chron.  xxvii.  6)    .  .  .  .  .207 

Costly  and  Fatal  Help  (2  Chron.  xxviii.  23)  ,  .     316 

A  GODLT  Bbvobmation  (2  Chron.  xxix.  1-11)  .  .225 

Saobepicb  Renewed  (2  Chron.  xxix.  18-31)  .  .  .232 

A  Loving  Call  to  Reunion  (2  Chron.  xxx.  1-13)    .  .     238 

A  Strange  Reward  for  Faithfulness  (2  Chron.  xxxii.  1)     243 

Manassbh's  Sin  and  Repentance  (2  Chron,  xxxiii.  9-16)    .      251 

JosiAH  (2  Chron.  xxxiv.  1-13)  ,  ,  ,  .      2S7 

JosiAH  AND  the  Newly  Found  Law  (2  Chron.  xxxiv.  14-28)    262 

Thb  Fall  of  Judah  (2  Chron.  zxzvi.  11-21)  •  .     260 


EZRA 
Thb  Bvb  of  thb  Restoration  (Ezra  1. 1-11) 
Altar  and  Temple  (Ezra  iii.  1-13)  .  . 

Building  in  Troublous  Times  (Ezra  iv.  1-5) 


.      276 

.      262 
.      291 


viii  CONTENTS 

PAOB 

The  Nbw  Tbmple  and  its  Worship  (Ezra  vi.  14-22)  ,     294 

God  thb  Joy-bbinger  (Ezra  vi.  22)  .             ,             .  ,301 

Heroic  Faith  (Ezra  viii.  22,  23,  31,  32)         .            .  ,909 

The  Chaboe  of  the  Pilgrim  Priests  (Ezra  viii.  20)  .     817 

THE  BOOK  OF  NEHEMIAH 

A  Reformer's  Schooling  (Neh.  i.  1-11)        ,            ,  .      326 

The  Church  and  Social  Evils  (Neh.  1.  4)              .  .     834 

'  Over  Against  His  House  '  (Neh.  iii.  28)    .             •  ,     343 

Discouragements  and  Courage  (Neh.  iv.  9-21)      ,  .     354 

An  Ancient  Nonconformist  (Neh.  v.  15)    ,            .  .     861 
Beading  the  Law  with  Tears  and  Joy  (Neh.  viii.  1-12)  .     371 

The  Joy  of  the  Lord  (Neh.  viii.  10)           «            t  •     379 

Sabbath  Observance  (Neh.  ziii.  16-22)        •            ■  •     891 


THE  SECOND  BOOK  OF  KINGS 
THE  STORY  OF  HAZAEL 

•So  Haeftel  went  to  meet  him,  and  took  a  present  with  him,  even  of  every  good 
thing  of  Damascus,  forty  camels' burden,  and  came  and  stood  before  him,  and  said. 
Thy  son  Ben-hadad  king  of  Syria  hath  sent  me  to  thee,  saying.  Shall  I  recover  of 
this  disease?  10.  And  Elisha  said  unto  him,  60,  say  unto  him.  Thou  mayest  cer- 
tainly recover :  howbeit  the  Lord  hath  shewed  me  that  he  shall  surely  die.  11.  And 
he  settled  his  countenance  stedfastly,  until  he  was  ashamed :  and  the  man  of  God 
wept.  12.  And  Hazael  said,  Why  weepeth  my  lord?  And  he  answered,  Because  I 
know  the  evil  that  thou  wilt  do  unto  the  children  of  Israel :  their  strong  holds  wilt 
thou  set  on  Are,  and  their  young  men  wilt  thou  slay  with  the  sword,  and  wilt  dash 
their  children,  and  rip  up  their  women  with  child.  13.  And  Hazael  said,  But  what, 
is  thy  servant  a  dog,  that  he  should  do  this  great  thing  J  And  Elisha  answered. 
The  Lord  hath  shewed  me  that  thou  shalt  be  king  over  Syria.  14.  So  he  departed 
from  Elisha,  and  came  to  his  master ;  who  said  to  him,  What  said  Elisha  to  thee  ? 
and  he  answered.  He  told  me  that  thou  shouldest  surely  recover.  15.  And  it  came 
to  pass  on  the  morrow,  that  he  took  a  thick  cloth,  and  dipped  it  in  water,  and  spread 
it  on  his  face,  so  that  he  died :  and  Hazael  reigned  in  his  stead.'— 2  Kings  viii.  9-15. 

Tbsb  is  a  strange,  wild  story.  That  Damascene  mon- 
archy burst  into  sudden  power,  warlike  and  commercial 
— for  the  two  things  went  together  in  those  days.  As  is 
usually  the  case,  Hazael  the  successful  soldier  becomes 
ambitious.  His  sword  seems  to  be  the  real  sceptre,  and 
he  will  have  the  dominion.  Many  years  before  this 
Elijah  had  anointed  him  to  be  king  over  Syria.  That 
had  wrought  upon  him  and  stirred  ambition  in  him. 
Elijah's  other  appointments,  coeval  with  his  own,  had 
already  taken  effect,  Jehu  was  king  of  Israel,  Elisha 
was  prophet,  and  he  only  had  not  attained  the  dignity 
to  which  he  had  been  designated. 

He  comes  now  with  his  message  from  the  king  of 
Damascus  to  Elisha.     No  doubt  he  had  been  often 

▲ 


2  SECOND  BOOK  OF  KINGS    [ch.viii. 

contrasting  his  own  vigour  with  the  decrepit,  nominal 
king,  and  many  a  time  had  thought  of  the  anointing, 
and  had  nursed  ambitious  hopes,  which  gradually- 
turned  to  dark  resolves. 

He  hoped,  no  doubt,  that  Ben-hadad  was  mortally 
sick,  and  it  must  have  been  a  cruel,  crushing  disappoint- 
ment when  he  heard  that  there  was  nothing  deadly  in 
the  illness.  Another  hope  was  gone  from  him.  The 
throne  seemed  further  off  than  ever.  I  suppose  that, 
at  that  instant,  there  sprang  in  his  heart  the  resolve 
that  he  would  kill  Ben-hadad.  The  recoil  of  disappoint- 
ment spurred  Hazael  to  the  resolution  which  he  then 
and  there  took.  It  had  been  gathering  form,  no  doubt, 
through  some  years,  but  now  it  became  definite  and 
settled.  While  his  face  glowed  with  the  new  deter- 
mination, and  his  lips  clenched  themselves  in  the  firm- 
ness of  his  purpose,  the  even  voice  of  the  prophet  went 
on,  *  howbeit  he  shall  certainly  die,'  and  the  eye  of  the 
man  of  God  searched  him  till  he  turned  away  ashamed 
because  aware  that  his  inmost  heart  was  read. 

Then  there  followed  the  prophet's  weeping,  and  the 
solemn  announcement  of  what  Hazael  would  do  when 
he  had  climbed  to  the  throne.  He  shrank  in  real 
horror  from  the  thought  of  such  enormity  of  sin.  •  Is 
thy  servant  a  dog  that  he  should  do  such  a  thing?' 
Elisha  sternly  answers :  *  The  Lord  hath  shewed  me  that 
thou  shalt  be  king  over  Syria.'  The  certainty  is  that 
in  his  character  occasion  will  develop  evil.  The  cer- 
tainty is  that  a  course  begun  by  such  crime  will  be  of 
a  piece,  and  consistent  with  itself. 

This  conversation  with  Elisha  seems  to  have  ac- 
celerated Hazael's  purpose,  as  if  the  prediction  were 
to  his  mind  a  justification  of  his  means  of  fulfilling  it. 

How  like  Macbeth   he    is ! — the    successful    soldier, 


vs.  9-15]     THE  STORY  OF  HAZAEL  8 

stirred  by  supernatural  monitions  of  a  greatness  which 
he  should  achieve,  and  at  last  a  murderer. 

This  narrative  opens  to  us  some  of  the  solemn, 
dark  places  of  human  life,  of  men's  hearts,  of  God's 
ways.  Let  us  look  at  some  of  the  lessons  which  lie 
here. 

I.  Man's  responsibility  for  the  sin  which  God  fore- 
sees. 

It  seems  as  if  the  prophet's  words  had  much  to  do  in 
exciting  the  ambitious  desires  which  led  to  the  crime. 
Hazael's  purpose  of  executing  the  deed  is  clearly  known 
to  the  prophet.  His  ascending  the  throne  is  part  of  the 
divine  purpose.  He  could  find  excuses  for  his  guilt,  and 
fling  the  responsibility  for  firing  his  ambition  on  the 
divine  messenger.  It  may  be  asked — What  sort  of  God 
is  this  who  works  on  the  mind  of  a  man  by  exciting 
promises,  and  having  done  so,  and  having  it  fixed  in 
His  purposes  that  the  man  is  to  do  the  crime,  yet  treats 
it  when  done  as  guilt  ? 

But  now,  whatever  you  may  say,  or  whatever  excuses 
Hazael  might  have  found  for  himself,  here  is  just  in  its 
most  naked  form  that  which  is  true  about  all  sin. 
God  foresees  it  all.  God  puts  men  into  circumstances 
where  they  will  fall,  God  presents  to  them  things  which 
they  will  make  temptations.  God  takes  the  conse- 
quences of  their  wrongdoing  and  works  them  into  His 
great  scheme.  That  is  undeniable  on  one  side,  and 
on  the  other  it  is  as  undeniable  that  God's  foresee- 
ing leaves  men  free.  God's  putting  men  into  circum- 
stances where  they  fall  is  not  His  tempting  them. 
God's  non-prevention  of  sin  is  not  permission  to  sin. 
God's  overruling  the  consequences  of  sin  is  not  His 
condoning  of  sin  as  part  of  the  scheme  of  His  provi- 
dence. 


4  SECOND  BOOK  OF  KINGS    [ch.viii. 

Man  is  free.  Man  is  responsible.  God  hates  sin.  God 
foresees  and  permits  sin. 

It  is  all  a  terrible  mystery,  but  the  facts  are  as 
undeniable  as  the  mystery  of  their  co-existence  is 
inscrutable. 

II.  The  slumbering  possibilities  of  sin. 

Hazael  indignantly  protests  against  the  thought  that 
he  should  do  such  a  thing.  There  is  conscience  left  in 
him  yet.  His  example  suggests  how  little  any  of  us 
know  what  it  is  in  us  to  be  or  to  do.  We  are  all  of  us 
a  mystery  to  ourselves.  Slumbering  powers  lie  in  us. 
We  are  like  quiescent  volcanoes. 

So  much  in  us  lies  dormant,  needing  occasion  for  its 
development,  like  seeds  that  may  sleep  for  centuries. 
That  is  true  in  regard  to  both  the  good  and  the  bad  in 
us.  Life  reveals  us  to  ourselves.  We  learn  to  know 
ourselves  by  our  actions,  better  than  by  mental  self- 
inspection. 

All  sin  is  one  in  essence,  and  may  pass  into  diverse 
forms  according  to  circumstances.  Of  course  characters 
differ,  but  the  root  of  sin  is  in  us  all.  We  are  largely 
good  because  not  tempted,  as  a  house  may  well  stand 
firm  when  there  are  no  floods.  By  the  nature  of  the 
case,  thorough  self-knowledge  is  impossible. 

Sin  has  the  power  of  blinding  us  to  its  presence.  It 
comes  in  a  cloud  as  the  old  gods  were  fabled  to  do. 
The  lungs  get  accustomed  to  a  vitiated  atmosphere, 
and  scarcely  are  conscious  of  oppression  till  they  cease 
to  play. 

All  this  should  teach  us — 

Lessons  of  wary  walking  and  humility.  We  are  good 
because  we  have  not  been  tried. 

Lessons  of  charity  and  brotherly  kindness.  Every 
thief  in  the  hulks,  every  prostitute  on  the  streets,  is  our 


vs.  9-15]      THE  STORY  OF  HAZAEL  5 

brother  and  sister,  and  they  prove  their  fraternity  by 
their  sin.  'Whatever  man  has  done  man  may  do.' 
'  Nihil  humanum  alienum  a  me  puto.'  '  Let  him  that  is 
without  sin  cast  the  first  stone.' 

III.  The  fatal  necessity  by  which  sin  repeats  itself  in 
aggravated  forms. 

See  how  Hazael  is  drifted  into  his  worst  crimes. 
His  first  one  leads  on  by  fell  necessity  to  others.  A 
man  who  has  done  no  sin  is  conceivable,  but  a  man 
who  has  done  only  one  is  impossible.  Did  you  ever  see 
a  dam  bursting  or  breaking  down  ?  Through  a  little 
crack  comes  one  drop :  will  it  stop  there — the  gap  or 
the  trickle  ?  No !  The  drop  has  widened  the  crack,  it 
has  softened  the  earth  around,  it  has  cleared  away  some 
impediments.  So  another  and  another  follow  ever 
more  rapidly,  until  the  water  pours  out  in  a  flood  and 
the  retaining  embankment  is  swept  away. 

No  sin '  is  dead,  being  alone.'  The  demon  brings  seven 
other  devils  worse  than  himself.  The  reason  for  that 
aggravation  is  plain. 

There  is,  first,  habit. 

There  is,  second,  growing  inclination. 

There  is,  third,  weakened  restraint. 

There  is,  fourth,  a  craving  for  excitement  to  still 
conscience. 

There  is,  fifth,  the  necessity  of  the  man's  position. 

There  is,  sixth,  the  strange  love  of  consistency  which 
tones  all  life  down  or  up  to  one  tint,  as  near  as  may  be. 
There  comes  at  last  despair. 

But  not  merely  does  every  sin  tend  to  repeat  itself 
and  to  draw  others  after  it.  It  tends  to  repeat  itself  in 
aggravated  forms.  There  is  growth,  the  law  of  increase 
as  well  as  of  perpetuity.  The  seed  produces  *  some  sixty 
and  some  an  hundredfold.' 


6  SECOND  BOOK  OF  KINGS        [ch.x. 

And  so  the  slaughtered  soldiers  and  desolated  home- 
steads of  Israel  were  the  sequel  of  the  cloth  on  Ben- 
hadad's  face.  The  secret  of  much  enormous  crime  is 
the  kind  of  relief  from  conscience  which  is  found  in 
committing  a  yet  greater  sin.  The  Furies  drive  with 
whips  of  scorpions,  and  the  poor  wretch  goes  plunging 
and  kicking  deeper  and  deeper  in  the  mire,  further  and 
further  from  the  path.  So  you  can  never  say  :  *  I  will 
only  do  this  one  wrong  thing.' 

We  see  here  how  powerless  against  sin  are  all  re- 
straints. The  prophecy  did  not  prevent  Hazael  from 
his  sins.  The  clear  sense  that  they  were  sins  did  not 
prevent  him.  The  horror-struck  shudder  of  conscience 
did  not  prevent  him.     It  was  soon  gagged. 

Hear,  then,  the  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter. 
Christ  reveals  us  to  ourselves.  Christ  breaks  the  chain 
of  sin,  makes  a  new  beginning,  cuts  off  the  entail, 
reverses  the  irreversible,  erases  the  indelible,  cancels 
the  irrevocable,  forgives  all  the  faultful  past,  and  by 
the  power  of  His  love  in  the  soul,  works  a  mightier 
miracle  than  changing  the  Ethiopian's  skin;  teaches 
them  that  are  accustomed  to  evil  to  do  well,  and  though 
sins  be  as  scarlet,  makes  them  white  as  snow.  He 
gives  us  a  cleansed  past  and  a  bright  future,  and  out  of 
all  our  sins  and  wasted  years  makes  pardoned  sinners 
and  glorified,  perfected  saints. 


IMPURE  ZEAL 

'  And  Jehu  gathered  all  the  people  together,  and  said  unto  them,  Ahab  served 
Baal  a  little ;  but  Jehu  shall  serve  him  much.  19.  Now  therefore  call  unto  me  all 
the  prophets  of  Baal,  all  his  servants,  and  all  bis  priests  ;  let  none  be  wanting :  for  I 
have  a  great  sacrifice  to  do  to  Baal ;  whosoever  shall  be  wanting,  he  shall  not  live. 
But  Jehu  did  it  in  subtilty,  to  the  intent  that  he  might  destroy  the  worshippers  of 
Baal.  20.  And  Jehu  said,  Proclaim  a  solemn  assembly  for  Baal.  And  they  pro- 
claimed it.  21.  And  Jehu  sent  through  all  Israel :  and  all  the  worshippers  of  Baal 
came,  so  that  tbsre  was  not  a  man  left  that  came  not.  And  they  came  into  the  house 


vs.  18-31]  IMPURE  ZEAL  7 

of  Baal ;  and  the  house  of  Baal  was  fnll  from  one  end  to  another.  22.  And  he  said 
unto  him  that  was  over  the  vestry,  Bring  forth  vestments  for  all  the  worshippers  of 
Baal.  And  he  brought  them  forth  vestments.  23.  And  Jehu  went,  and  Jehonadab 
the  son  of  Rechab,  into  the  house  of  Baal,  and  said  unto  the  worshippers  of  Baal, 
Search,  and  look  that  there  be  here  with  you  none  of  the  servants  of  the  Lord, 
but  the  worshippers  of  Baal  only.  24.  And  when  they  went  in  to  offer  sacriflcee 
and  burnt  offerings,  Jehu  appointed  fourscore  men  without,  and  said,  If  any  of  the 
men  whom  I  have  brought  into  your  hands  escape,  he  that  letteth  him  go,  his 
life  shall  be  for  the  life  of  him.  25.  And  it  came  to  pass,  as  soon  as  he  had  made 
an  end  of  offering  the  burnt  offering,  that  Jehu  said  to  the  guard  and  to  the 
captains,  Go  in,  and  slay  them  ;  let  none  come  forth.  And  they  smote  them  with 
the  edge  of  the  sword ;  and  the  guard  and  the  captains  cast  them  out,  and  went 
to  the  city  of  the  house  of  Baal.  26.  And  they  brought  forth  the  images  out  of  the 
house  of  Baal,  and  burned  them.  27.  And  they  brake  down  the  image  of  Baed,  and 
brake  down  the  house  of  Baal,  and  made  it  a  draught  house  unto  this  day.  28. 
Thus  Jehu  destroyed  Baal  out  of  Israel.  29.  Howbeit  from  the  sins  of  Jeroboam 
the  son  of  Nebat,  who  made  Israel  to  sin,  Jehu  departed  not  from  after  them,  to 
wit,  the  golden  calves  that  were  in  Beth-el,  and  that  were  in  Dan.  30.  And  the  Lord 
said  unto  Jehu,  Because  thou  hast  done  well  in  executing  that  which  is  right  in 
Mine  eyes,  and  hast  done  unto  the  house  of  Ahab  according  to  all  that  was  in 
Mine  heart,  thy  children  of  the  fourth  generation  shall  sit  on  the  throne  of  Israel. 
31.  But  Jehn  took  no  heed  to  walk  in  the  law  of  the  Lord  God  of  Israel  with  all  his 
heart :  for  he  departed  not  from  the  sins  of  Jeroboam,  which  meuie  Israel  to 
sin.'— 2  Kings  x.  18-31. 

The  details  of  this  story  of  bloodshed  need  little  eluci- 
dation. Jehu  had  'driven  furiously'  to  some  purpose. 
Secrecy  and  swiftness  joined  to  unhesitating  severity 
had  crushed  the  dynasty  of  Ahab,  which  fell  unlamented 
and  unsupported,  as  if  lightning-struck.  The  nobler 
elements  had  gathered  to  Jehu,  as  represented  by  the 
Rechabite,  Jehonadab,  evidently  a  Jehovah  worshipper, 
and  closely  associated  with  the  fierce  soldier  in  this 
chapter.  Jehu  first  secured  his  position,  and  then  smote 
the  Baal  worship  as  heavily  and  conclusively  as  he  had 
done  the  royal  family.  He  struck  once,  and  struck  no 
more ;  for  the  single  blow  pulverised. 

The  audacious  pretext  of  an  intention  to  outdo  the 
fallen  dynasty  in  Baal  worship  must  have  sounded 
strange  to  those  who  knew  how  his  massacre  of  Ahab's 
house  had  been  represented  by  him  as  fulfilling 
Jehovah's  purpose,  but  it  was  not  too  gross  to  be 
believed.  So  we  can  fancy  the  joyous  revival  of  hope 
with  which  from  every  corner  of  the  land  the  Baal 
priests,  prophets,    and    worshippers,    recovered    from 


8  SECOND  BOOK  OF  KINGS       [ch.x. 

their  fright,  came  flocking  to  the  great  temple  in 
Samaria,  till  it  was  like  a  cup  filled  with  wine  from 
brim  to  brim.  The  worship  cannot  have  numbered 
many  adherents  if  one  temple  could  hold  the  bulk  of 
them.  Probably  it  had  never  been  more  than  a  court 
fashion,  and,  now  that  Jezebel  was  dead,  had  lost 
ground.  A  token  of  royal  favour  was  given  to  each  of 
the  crowd,  in  the  gift  of  a  vestment  from  the  royal 
wardrobe.  Then  Jehu  himself,  accompanied  by  the 
ascetic  Jehonadab,  entered  the  court  of  the  temple,  a 
strangely  assorted  pair,  and  a  couple  of  very  '  dis- 
tinguished' converts.  The  Baal  priests  would  thrill 
with  gratified  pride  when  these  two  came  to  worship. 
The  usual  precautions  against  the  intrusion  of  non- 
worshippers  were  taken  at  Jehu's  command,  but  with  a 
sinister  meaning,  undreamed  of  by  the  eager  searchers. 
That  was  a  sifting  for  destruction,  not  for  preservation. 
So  they  all  passed  into  the  inner  court  to  offer 
sacrifice. 

The  story  gives  a  double  picture  in  verse  24.  Within 
are  the  jubilant  worshippers ;  without,  the  grim  com- 
pany of  their  executioners,  waiting  the  signal  to  draw 
their  swords  and  burst  in  on  the  unarmed  mob.  Jehu 
carried  his  deception  so  far  that  he  himself  offered 
the  burnt  offering,  with  Jehonadab  standing  by,  and 
then  withdrew,  followed,  no  doubt,  by  grateful  ac- 
clamations. A  step  or  two  brought  him  to  the  '  eighty 
men  without.'  Two  stern  words,  '  Go,  smite  them,'  are 
enough.  They  storm  in,  and  *  the  songs  of  the  temple ' 
are  turned  to  *  bowlings  in  that  day.'  The  defenceless, 
surprised  crowd,  huddled  together  in  the  dimly  lighted 
shrine,  were  massacred  to  a  man.  The  innermost 
sanctuary  was  then  wrecked,  corpses  and  statues 
thrown  pell-mell  into  the  outer  courts  or  beyond  the 


vs.  18-31]  IMPURE  ZEAL  9 

precincts,  fires  lit  to  burn  the  abominations,  and  busy 
hands,  always  more  ready  for  pillage  and  destruction 
than  for  good  work,  pulled  down  the  temple,  the  ruins 
of  which  were  turned  to  base  uses.  The  writer,  pictur- 
ing the  wild  scene,  sums  up  with  a  touch  of  exultation : 
'  Thus  Jehu  destroyed  Baal  out  of  Israel ' — where  note 
the  emphatic  prominence  of  the  three  names  of  the 
king,  the  god,  and  the  nation.  That  is  the  vindication 
of  the  terrible  deed. 

Now  the  main  interest  of  this  passage  lies  in  its 
disclosure  of  the  strangely  mingled  character  of  Jehu, 
and  in  the  fact  that  his  bloody  severity  was  approved 
by  God,  and  rewarded  by  the  continuance  of  his 
dynasty  for  a  longer  time  than  any  other  on  the 
throne  of  Israel. 

Jehu  was  influenced  by  '  zeal  for  the  Lord,'  however 
much  smoke  mingled  with  the  flame.  He  acted  under 
the  conviction  that  he  was  God's  instrument,  and  at 
each  new  deed  of  blood  asserted  his  fulfilment  of 
prophecy.  His  profession  to  Jehonadab  (ver.  16) 
was  not  hypocrisy  nor  ostentation.  The  Rechabite 
sheikh  was  evidently  a  man  of  mark,  and  apparently 
one  of  the  leaders  of  those  who  had  not  'bowed  the 
knee  to  Baal ' ;  and  Jehu's  disclosure  of  his  animating 
motive  was  meant  to  secure  the  alliance  of  that  party 
through  one  of  its  chiefs.  No  doubt  many  elements  of 
selfishness  and  many  stains  mingled  with  Jehu's  zeal. 
It  was  much  on  the  same  level  as  the  fanaticism  of  the 
immediate  successors  of  Mohammed ;  but,  low  as  it 
was,  look  at  its  power.  Jehu  swept  like  a  whirlwind, 
or  like  leaping  fire  among  stubble,  from  Ramoth  to 
Jezreel,  from  Jezreel  to  Samaria,  and  nothing  stood 
before  his  fierce  onset.  Promptitude,  decision,  secrecy, 
— the  qualities  which  carry  enterprises    to   success — 


10  SECOND  BOOK  OF  KINGS       [ch.  x. 

marked  his  character ;  partly,  no  doubt,  from  natural 
temperament,  for  God  chooses  right  instruments,  but 
from  temperament  heightened  and  invigorated  by  the 
conviction  of  being  the  instrument  whom  God  had 
chosen.  We  may  learn  how  even  a  very  imperfect 
form  of  this  conviction  gives  irresistible  force  to  a  man, 
annihilates  fear,  draws  the  teeth  of  danger,  and  gathers 
up  all  one's  faculties  to  a  point  which  can  pierce  any 
opposition.  We  may  all  recognise  that  God  has  sent 
us  on  His  errands ;  and  if  we  cherish  that  conviction, 
we  shall  put  away  from  us  slothf ulness  and  fear,  and 
out  of  weakness  shall  be  made  strong. 

But  Jehu  sets  forth  the  possible  imperfections  of 
*  zeal  for  the  Lord.'  We  may  defer  for  a  moment  the 
consideration  of  the  morality  of  his  slaughter  of  the 
royal  house  and  the  Baal  worshippers,  and  point  to  the 
taint  of  selfishness  and  to  the  leaven  of  deceit  in  his 
enthusiasm.  We  have  not  to  analyse  it.  That  is  God's 
work.  But  clearly  the  object  which  he  had  in  view 
was  not  merely  fulfilment  of  prophecy,  but  securing 
the  throne;  and  there  was  more  passion,  as  well  as 
selfish  policy,  in  his  massacres,  than  befitted  a  minister 
of  the  divine  justice,  who  should  let  no  anger  disturb 
the  solemnity  of  his  terrible  task.  Such  dangers  ever 
attend  the  path  of  the  great  men  who  feel  themselves  to 
be  sent  by  God.  In  our  humbler  lives  they  dog  our  steps, 
and  religious  fervour  needs  ever  to  keep  careful  watch 
on  itself,  lest  it  should  degenerate  unconsciously  into 
self-will,  and  should  allow  the  muddy  stream  of  earth- 
born  passion  to  darken  its  crystal  waters. 

Many  a  great  name  in  the  annals  of  the  Church  has 
fallen  before  that  temptation.  We  all  need  to  re- 
member that  •  the  wrath  of  man  worketh  not  th« 
righteousness  of  God,'  and  to  take  heed  lest  we  should 


vs.  18-31]  IMPURE  ZEAL  11 

be  guided  by  our  own  stormy  impatience  of  contradic- 
tion, and  by  a  determination  to  have  our  own  way,  while 
we  think  ourselves  the  humble  instruments  of  a  divine 
purpose.  There  was  a  '  Zelotes  '  in  the  Apostolate ;  but 
the  coarse,  sanguinary  '  zeal '  of  his  party  must  have 
needed  much  purifying  before  it  learned  what  manner 
of  spirit  the  zeal  of  a  true  disciple  was  of. 

Another  point  of  interest  is  the  divine  emphatic 
approval  of  Jehu's  bloody  acts  (ver.  30).  The  massacre 
of  the  Baal  worshippers  is  not  included  in  the  acts  which 
God  declares  to  have  been  '  according  to  all  that  was  in 
Mine  heart,'  and  it  may  be  argued  that  it  was  not  part 
of  Jehu's  commission.  Certainly  the  accompanying 
deceit  was  not  '  right  in  God's  eyes,'  but  the  slaughter 
in  Baal's  temple  was  the  natural  sequel  of  the  civil 
revolution,  and  is  most  probably  included  in  the  deeds 
approved. 

Perhaps  Elisha  brought  Jehu  the  message  in  verse  30. 
If  so,  what  a  contrast  between  the  two  instruments  of 
God's  purposes !  At  all  events,  Jehovah's  approval  was 
distinctly  given.  What  then  ?  There  need  be  no  hesi- 
tation in  recognising  the  progressive  character  of 
Scripture  morality,  as  well  as  the  growth  of  the 
revelation  of  the  divine  character,  of  which  the 
morality  of  each  epoch  is  the  reflection.  The  full 
revelation  of  the  God  of  love  had  to  be  preceded  by 
the  clear  revelation  of  the  God  of  righteousness ;  and 
whilst  the  Old  Testament  does  make  known  the  love 
of  God  in  many  a  gracious  act  and  word,  it  especially 
teaches  His  righteous  condemnation  of  sin,  without 
which  His  love  were  mere  facile  indulgence  and 
impunity.  The  slaughter  of  that  wicked  house  of 
Ahab  and  of  the  Baal  priests  was  the  act  of  divine 
justice,  and  the  question  is  simply  whether  that  justice 


12  SECOND  BOOK  OF  KINGS       [ch.x. 

was  entitled  to  slay  them.  To  that  question  believers 
in  a  divine  providence  can  give  but  one  answer.  The 
destruction  of  Baal  worship  and  the  annihilation  of  its 
stronghold  in  Ahab's  family  were  sufficient  reasons,  as 
even  we  can  see,  for  such  a  deed.  To  bring  in  Jehu 
into  the  problem  is  unnecessary.  He  was  the  sword, 
but  God's  was  the  hand  that  struck.  It  is  not  for  men 
to  arraign  the  Lord  of  life  and  death  for  His  methods 
and  times  of  sending  death  to  evil-doers.  Granted 
that  the  *  long-suffering '  which  is  •  not  willing  that  any 
should  perish'  speaks  more  powerfully  to  our  hearts 
than  the  justice  which  smites  with  death,  the  later  and 
more  blessed  revelation  is  possible  and  precious  only 
on  the  foundation  of  the  former.  Nor  will  a  loose- 
braced  generation  like  ours,  which  affects  to  be  horri- 
fied at  the  thought  of  the  'wrath  of  God,'  and 
recoils  from  the  contemplation  of  His  judgments, 
ever  reach  the  innermost  secrets  of  the  tenderness  of 
His  love. 

From  the  merely  human  point  of  view,  we  may  say 
that  revolutions  are  not  made  with  rose-water,  and 
that,  at  all  crises  in  a  nation's  history,  when  some 
ancient  evil  is  to  be  thrown  off,  and  some  powerful 
system  is  to  be  crushed,  there  will  be  violence,  at  which 
easy-going  people,  who  have  never  passed  through  like 
times,  will  hold  up  their  hands  in  horror  and  with 
cheap  censure.  No  doubt  we  have  a  higher  law  than 
Jehu  knew,  and  Christ  has  put  His  own  gentle  com- 
mandment of  love  in  the  place  of  what  was  'said  to 
them  of  old  time.'  But  let  us,  while  we  obey  it  for  our- 
selves, and  abjure  violence  and  blood,  judge  the  men  of 
old  '  according  to  that  which  they  had,  and  not  accord- 
ing to  that  which  they  had  not.'  Jehu's  bloody  deeds 
are  not  held  up  for  admiration.    His  obedience  is  what 


vs.  18-31]    JEHOIADA  AND  JOASH  13 

is  praised  and  rewarded.    Well  for  us  if  we  obey  our 
better  law  as  faithfully ! 

The  last  point  in  the  story  is  the  imperfection  of 
the  obedience  of  Jehu.  He  contented  himself  with 
rooting  out  Baal,  but  left  the  calves.  That  shows  the 
impurity  of  his  *  zeal,'  which  flamed  only  against  what 
it  was  for  his  advantage  to  destroy,  and  left  the  more 
popular  and  older  idolatry  undisturbed.  Obedience  has 
to  be  '  all  in  all,  or  not  at  all.'  We  may  not  *  compound 
for  sins  we  are  inclined  to,  by'  zeal  against  those 
'  we  have  no  mind  to.'  Our  consciences  are  apt  to  have 
insensitive  spots  in  them,  like  witch-marks.  We  often 
think  it  enough  to  remove  the  grosser  evils,  and  leave 
the  less,  but  white  ants  will  eat  up  a  carcass  faster 
than  a  lion.  Putting  away  Baal  is  of  little  use  if  we 
keep  the  calves  at  Dan  and  Beth-el.  Nothing  but 
walking  in  the  law  of  the  Lord  •  with  all  the  heart '  will 
secure  our  walking  safely.  *  Unite  my  heart  to  fear 
Thy  name '  needs  to  be  our  daily  prayer.  *  One  foot  on 
sea  and  one  on  shore'  is  not  the  attitude  in  which 
steadfastness  or  progress  is  possible. 


JEHOIADA  AND  JOASH 

'  And  when  Athaliah  the  mother  of  Ahaziah  saw  that  her  son  was  dead,  she  arose 
and  destroyed  all  the  seed  royal.  2.  But  Jehosheba,  the  daughter  of  king  Joram, 
sister  of  Ahaziah,  took  Joash  the  son  of  Ahaziah,  and  stole  him  from  among  the 
king's  sons  which  were  slain ;  and  they  hid  him,  even  him  and  his  nurse,  in  the 
bedchamber  from  Athaliah,  so  that  he  was  not  slain.  3.  And  he  was  with  her 
hid  in  the  house  of  the  Lord  six  years.  And  Athaliah  did  reign  over  the  land. 
i.  And  the  seventh  year  Jehoiada  sent  and  fetched  the  rulers  over  hundreds,  with 
the  captains  and  the  guard,  and  brought  them  to  him  into  the  house  of  the 
Lord,  and  made  a  covenant  with  them,  and  took  an  oath  of  them  in  the  house 
of  the  Lord,  and  shewed  them  the  king's  son.  5.  And  he  commanded  them, 
saying.  This  is  the  thing  that  ye  shall  do ;  A  third  part  of  you  that  enter  in  on 
the  sabbath  shall  even  be  keepers  of  the  watch  of  the  king's  house ;  6.  And 
a  third  part  shall  be  at  the  gate  of  Sur ;  and  a  third  part  at  the  gate  behind  the 
guard :  so  shall  ye  keep  the  watch  of  the  house,  that  it  be  not  broken  down.  7.  And 
two  parts  of  all  you  that  go  forth  on  the  sabbath,  even  they  shall  keep  the  watch 
of  the  house  of  the  Lord  about  the  king.    8.  And  ye  shall  compass  the  king  round 


14  SECOND  BOOK  OF  KINGS      [ch.xi. 

about,  every  man  with  his  weapons  in  his  hand :  and  he  that  cometh  within  the 
ranges,  let  him  be  slain :  and  be  ye  with  the  king  as  he  goeth  out  and  as  he  cometh 
in.  9.  And  the  captains  over  the  hundreds  did  according  to  all  things  that  Jehoiada 
the  priest  commanded :  and  they  took  every  man  his  men  that  were  to  come  in  on 
the  sabbath,  with  them  that  should  go  out  on  the  sabbath,  and  came  to  Jehoiada 
the  priest.  10.  And  to  the  captains  over  hundreds  did  the  priest  give  king  David's 
spears  and  shields,  that  were  in  the  temple  of  the  Lord.  11.  And  the  guard  stood, 
every  man  with  his  weapons  in  his  hand,  round  about  the  king,  from  the  right 
comer  of  the  temple  to  the  left  corner  of  the  temple,  along  by  the  altar  and  the 
temple.  12.  And  he  brought  forth  the  king's  son,  and  put  the  crown  upon  him,  and 
gave  him  the  testimony ;  and  they  made  him  king,  and  anointed  him  ;  and  they 
clapped  their  hands,  and  said,  God  save  the  king.  13.  And  when  Athaliah  heard  the 
noise  of  the  guard  and  of  the  people,  she  came  to  the  people  into  the  temple  of  the 
Lord.  14.  And  when  she  looked,  behold,  the  king  stood  by  a  pillar,  as  the  manner 
was,  and  the  princes  and  the  trumpeters  by  the  king,  and  all  the  people  of  the  land 
rejoiced,  and  blew  with  trumpets :  and  Athaliah  rent  her  clothes,  and  cried. 
Treason,  Treason.  15.  But  Jehoiada  the  priest  commanded  the  captains  of  the 
hundreds,  the  officers  of  the  host,  and  said  unto  them.  Have  her  forth  without  the 
ranges  :  and  him  that  followeth  her  kiU  with  the  sword.  For  the  priest  had  said. 
Let  her  not  be  slain  in  the  house  of  the  Lord.  16.  And  they  laid  hands  on  her ;  and 
she  went  by  the  way  by  the  which  the  horses  came  into  the  king's  bouse :  and 
there  was  she  slain.'— 2  Kinqs  ad.  1-16. 

The  king  of  Judah  has  been  killed,  his  alliance  with 
the  king  of  Israel  having  involved  him  in  the  latter's 
fate.  Jehu  had  also  murdered  'the  brethren  of 
Ahaziah,'  forty-two  in  number.  Next,  Athaliah,  the 
mother  of  Ahaziah  and  a  daughter  of  Ahab,  killed 
all  the  males  of  the  royal  family,  and  planted  her- 
self on  the  throne.  She  had  Jezebel's  force  of  char- 
acter, unscrupulousness  and  disregard  of  human  life. 
She  was  a  tigress  of  a  woman,  and,  no  doubt,  her 
six  years'  usurpation  was  stained  with  blood  and  with 
the  nameless  abominations  of  Baal  worship.  Never  had 
the  kingdom  of  Judah  been  at  a  lower  ebb.  One  infant 
was  all  that  was  left  of  David's  descendants.  The  whole 
promises  of  God  seemed  to  depend  for  fulfilment  on  one 
little,  feeble  life.  The  tree  had  been  cut  down,  and 
there  was  but  this  one  sucker  pushing  forth  a  tiny 
shoot  from  '  the  root  of  Jesse.' 

We  have  in  the  passage,  first,  the  six  years  of  hiding 
in  the  temple.  It  is  a  pathetic  picture,  that  of  the 
infant  rescued  by  his  brave  aunt  from  the  blood-bath, 
and  stowed  away  in  the  storeroom  where  the  mats  and 


vs.  1-16]      JEHOIADA  AND  JOASH  15 

cushions  which  served  for  beds  were  kept  when  not  in 
use,  watched  over  by  two  loving  and  courageous  women, 
and  taught  infantile  lessons  by  the  husband  of  his  aunt, 
Jehoiada  the  high  priest.  Many  must  have  been  aware 
of  his  existence,  and  there  must  have  been  loyal  guard- 
ing of  the  secret,  or  Athaliah's  sword  would  have  been 
reddened  with  the  baby's  blood.  Like  the  child  Samuel, 
he  had  the  Temple  for  his  home,  and  his  first  impres- 
sions would  be  of  daily  sacrifices  and  white-robed 
priests.  It  was  a  better  school  for  him  than  if  he  had 
been  in  the  palace  close  by.  The  opening  flower  would 
have  been  soon  besmirched  there,  but  in  the  holy  calm 
of  the  Temple  courts  it  unfolded  unstained.  A  Chris- 
tian home  should  breathe  the  same  atmosphere  as  sur- 
rounded Joash,  and  it,  too,  should  be  a  temple,  where 
holy  peace  rules,  and  where  the  first  impressions  printed 
on  plastic  little  minds  are  of  God  and  His  service. 

We  have  next  the  disclosure  and  coronation  of  the 
boy  king.  The  narrative  here  has  to  be  supplemented 
from  that  in  2  Chron.  xxiii.,  which  does  not  contra- 
dict that  in  this  passage,  as  is  often  said,  but  completes 
it.  It  informs  us  that  before  the  final  scene  in  the 
Temple,  Jehoiada  had  in  Jerusalem  assembled  a  large 
force  of  Levites  and  of  the '  heads  of  the  fathers'  houses ' 
from  all  the  kingdom.  That  statement  implies  that 
the  revolution  was  mainly  religious  in  its  motive,  and 
was  national  in  its  extent.  Obviously  Jehoiada  would 
have  been  courting  destruction  for  Joash  and  himself, 
unless  he  had  made  sure  of  a  strong  backing  before  he 
hoisted  the  standard  of  the  house  of  David.  There 
must,  therefore,  have  been  long  preparation  and  much 
stir ;  and  all  the  while  the  foreign  woman  was  sitting 
in  the  palace,  close  by  the  Temple,  and  not  a  whisper 
reached  her.    Evidently  she  had  no  party  in  Judah,  and 


16  SECOND  BOOK  OF  KINGS     [ch.xi. 

held  her  own  only  by  her  indomitable  will  and  by  the 
help  of  foreign  troops.  Anybody  who  remembers  how 
the  Austrians  in  Italy  were  shunned,  will  understand 
how  Athaliah  heard  nothing  of  the  plot  that  was  rapidly 
developing  a  stone's  throw  from  her  isolated  throne. 
Strange  delusion,  to  covet  such  a  seat,  yet  no  stranger 
than  many  another  mistaking  of  serpents  for  fish,  into 
which  we  fall ! 

Jehoiada's  caution  was  as  great  as  his  daring.  He 
does  not  appear  to  have  given  the  Levites  and  elders 
any  inkling  of  his  purpose  till  he  had  them  safe  in  the 
Temple,  and  then  he  opened  his  mind,  swore  them  to 
stand  by  him,  and  *  showed  them  the  king's  son.'  What 
a  scene  that  would  be — the  seven-year-old  child  there 
among  all  these  strange  men,  the  joyful  surprise  flash- 
ing in  their  eyes,  the  exultation  of  the  faithful  women 
that  had  watched  him  so  lovingly,  the  stern  facing  of 
the  dangers  ahead.  Most  of  the  assembly  must  have 
thought  that  none  of  David's  house  remained,  and  that 
thought  would  have  had  much  to  do  with  their  sub- 
mitting to  Athaliah's  usurpation.  Now  that  they  saw 
the  true  heir,  they  could  not  hesitate  to  risk  their  lives 
to  set  him  on  his  throne.  Show  a  man  his  true  king, 
and  many  a  tyranny  submitted  to  before  becomes  at 
once  intolerable.  The  boy  Joash  makes  Athaliah  look 
very  ugly. 

Jehoiada's  plans  are  somewhat  difficult  to  understand, 
owing  to  our  ignorance  of  the  details  as  to  the  usual 
arrangements  of  the  guards  of  the  palace,  but  the  general 
drift  of  them  is  plain  enough.  The  main  thing  was  to 
secure  the  person  of  the  king,  and,  for  chat  purpose,  the 
two  companies  of  priests  who  were  relieved  on  the 
Sabbath  were  for  once  kept  on  duty,  and  their  numbers 
augmented  by  the  company  that  would,  in  the  ordinary 


vs.  1-16]      JEHOIADA  AND  JOASH  17 

course,  have  relieved  them.  This  augmented  force  was 
so  disposed  as,  first,  to  secure  the  Temple  from  attack ; 
and,  second,  to  *  compass  the  king ' — in  his  chamber, 
that  is.  We  learn  from  2  Chronicles  that  it  consisted 
of  priests  and  Levites,  and  some  would  see  in  that  state- 
ment a  tampering  with  the  account  in  this  passage,  in 
the  interests  of  a  later  conception  of  the  sanctity  of  the 
Temple  and  of  the  priestly  order.  Our  narrative  is  said  to 
make  the  foreign  mercenaries  of  the  palace  guard  the 
persons  referred  to;  but  surely  that  cannot  be  main- 
tained in  the  face  of  the  plain  statement  of  verse  7,  that 
they  kept  the  watch  of  the  Temple,  for  that  was  the 
office  of  the  priests.  Besides,  how  should  foreign  soldiers 
have  needed  to  be  armed  from  the  Temple  armoury  ? 
And  is  it  probable  on  the  face  of  it  that  the  palace 
guard,  who  were  Athaliah's  men,  and  therefore  an- 
tagonistic to  Joash,  and  Baal  worshippers,  should  have 
been  gained  over  to  his  side,  or  should  have  been  the 
guards  of  the  house  of  Jehovah  ?  If,  however,  we  under- 
stand that  these  guards  were  Levites,  all  is  plain,  and 
the  arming  of  them  with  *  the  spears  and  shields  that 
had  been  king  David's '  becomes  intelligible,  and  would 
rouse  them  to  enthusiasm  and  daring. 

Not  till  all  these  dispositions  for  the  boy  king's  safety, 
and  for  preventing  an  assault  on  the  Temple,  had  been 
carried  out,  did  the  prudent  Jehoiada  venture  to  bring 
Joash  out  from  his  place  of  concealment.  Note  that  in 
verse  12  he  is  not  called  '  the  king,'  as  in  the  previous 
verses,  but,  as  in  verse  4,  'the  king's  son.'  He  was 
king  by  right,  but  not  technically,  till  he  had  been  pre- 
sented to,  and  accepted  by,  the  representatives  of  the 
people,  had  had  '  the  testimony '  placed  in  his  hands, 
and  been  anointed  by  the  high-priest.  So  '  they  made 
him  king.'    The  three  parts  of  the  ceremony  were  all 

B 


18  SECOND  BOOK  OF  KINGS      [ch.xi. 

significant.  The  delivering  of  '  the  testimony '  (the  Book 
of  the  Law — Deut.  xvii.  18, 19)  taught  him  that  he  was 
no  despot  to  rule  by  his  own  pleasure  and  for  his  own 
glory,  but  the  viceroy  of  the  true  King  of  Judah,  and 
himself  subject  to  law.  The  people's  making  him 
king  taught  him  and  them  that  a  true  royalty  rules 
over  willing  subjects,  and  both  guarded  the  rights  of 
the  nation  and  set  limits  to  the  power  of  the  ruler.  The 
priest's  anointing  witnessed  to  the  divine  appointment 
of  the  monarch  and  the  divine  endowment  with  fitness 
for  his  office.  Would  that  these  truths  were  more  re- 
cognised and  felt  by  all  rulers !  What  a  different  thing 
the  page  of  history  would  be ! 

The  vigilance  of  the  tigress  had  been  eluded,  and 
Athaliah  had  a  rude  awakening.  But  she  had  her 
mother's  courage,  and  as  soon  as  she  heard  in  the  palace 
the  shouts,  she  dashed  to  the  Temple,  alone  as  she  was, 
and  fronted  the  crowd.  The  sight  might  have  made 
the  boldest  quail.  Who  was  that  child  standing  in  the 
royal  place  ?  Where  had  he  come  from  ?  How  had  he 
been  hidden  all  these  years  ?  What  was  all  this  frenzy 
of  rejoicing,  this  blare  of  trumpets,  these  ranks  of  grim 
men  with  weapons  in  their  hands  ?  The  stunning  truth 
fell  on  her ;  but,  though  she  felt  that  all  was  lost,  not  a 
whit  did  she  blench,  but  fronted  them  all  as  proudly  as 
ever.  One  cannot  but  admire  the  dauntless  woman, 
•  magnificent  in  sin.'  But  her  cry  of  '  Treason!  treason!' 
brought  none  to  her  side.  As  she  stood  solitary  there, 
she  must  have  felt  that  her  day  was  over,  and  that 
nothing  remained  but  to  die  like  a  queen.  Proudly  as 
ever,  she  passed  down  the  ranks  and  not  a  face  looked 
pity  on  her,  nor  a  voice  blessed  her.  She  was  reaping 
what  she  had  sown,  and  she  who  had  killed  without 
compunction    the  innocents  who   stood   between  her 


vs.  1-16]     METHODICAL  LIBERALITY       19 

and  her  ambitions,  was  pitilessly  slain,  and  all  the  land 
rejoiced  at  her  death. 

So  ended  the  all  but  bloodless  revolution  which 
crushed  Baal  worship  in  Judah.  It  had  been  begun  by 
Elijah  and  Elisha,  but  it  was  completed  by  a  high 
priest.  It  was  religious  even  more  than  political.  It 
was  a  national  movement,  though  Jehoiada's  courage 
and  wisdom  engineered  it  to  its  triumph.  It  teaches  us 
how  God  watches  over  His  purposes  and  their  instru- 
ments when  they  seem  nearest  to  failure,  for  one  poor 
infant  was  all  that  was  left  of  the  seed  of  David ;  and 
how,  therefore,  we  are  never  to  despair,  even  in  the 
darkest  hour,  of  the  fulfilment  of  His  promises.  It 
teaches  us  how  much  one  brave,  good  man  and  woman 
can  do  to  change  the  whole  face  of  things,  and  how 
often  there  needs  but  one  man  to  direct  and  voice  the 
thoughts  and  acts  of  the  silent  multitude,  and  to  light 
a  fire  that  consumes  evil. 


METHODICAL  LIBERALITY 

'  And  Jehoash  said  to  the  priests.  All  the  money  of  the  dedicated  things  that  is 
brought  into  the  house  o£  the  Lord,  even  the  money  of  every  one  that  passeth  the 
account,  the  money  that  every  man  is  set  at,  and  all  the  money  that  cometh  into 
any  man's  heart  to  bring  into  the  house  of  the  Lord,  5.  Let  the  priests  take  it  to 
them,  every  man  of  his  acquaintance ;  and  let  them  repair  the  breaches  of  the 
house,  wheresoever  any  breach  shall  be  found.  6.  But  it  was  so,  that  in  the  three 
and  twentieth  year  of  king  Jehoash  the  priests  had  not  repaired  the  breaches 
of  the  house.  7.  Then  king  Jehoash  called  for  Jehoiada  the  priest,  and  the  other 
priests,  and  said  nnto  them,  Why  repair  ye  not  the  breaches  of  the  house  ?  Now 
therefore  receive  no  more  money  of  your  acquaintance,  but  deliver  it  for  the 
breaches  of  the  house.  8.  And  the  priests  consented  to  receive  no  more  money  of 
the  people,  neither  to  repair  the  breaches  of  the  house.  9.  But  Jehoiada  the  priest 
took  a  chest,  and  bored  a  hole  in  the  lid  of  it,  and  set  it  beside  the  altar,  on  the 
right  side  as  one  cometh  into  the  house  of  the  Lord :  and  the  priests  that  kept  the 
door  put  therein  all  the  money  that  was  brought  into  the  house  of  the  Lord.  10.  And 
it  was  so,  when  they  saw  that  there  was  much  money  in  the  chest,  that  the  king's 
scribe  and  the  high  priest  came  up,  and  they  put  up  in  bags,  and  told  the  money 
that  was  found  in  the  house  of  the  Lord.  11.  And  they  gave  the  money,  being  told, 
into  the  hands  of  them  that  did  the  work,  that  had  the  oversight  of  the  house 
of  the  Lord :  and  they  laid  it  out  to  the  oarpenterti  and  builders  that  wrought 


20  SECOND  BOOK  OF  KINGS     [ch.  xii. 

upon  the  house  of  the  Lord,  12.  And  to  masons,  and  hewers  of  stone,  and  to  buy 
timber  and  hewed  stone  to  repair  the  breaches  of  the  house  of  the  Lord,  and  for 
all  that  was  laid  out  for  the  house  to  repair  it.  13.  Howbeit  there  were  not  made 
for  the  house  of  the  Lord  bowls  of  silver,  snuflFers,  basons,  trumpets,  any  vessels 
of  gold,  or  vessels  of  silver,  of  the  money  that  was  brought  into  the  house  of  the 
Lord :  14.  But  they  gave  that  to  the  workmen,  and  repaired  therewith  the  house  of 
the  Lord.  15.  Moreover  they  reckoned  not  with  the  men,  into  whose  hand  they 
delivered  the  money  to  be  bestowed  on  workmen:  for  they  dealt  faithfully.'— 
2  Kings  xii.  4-15. 

♦  The  sons  of  Athaliah,  that  wicked  woman,  had  broken 
up  the  house  of  God,'  says  Chronicles.  The  dilapida- 
tion had  not  been  complete,  but  had  been  extensive, 
as  may  be  gathered  from  the  large  expenditure  re- 
corded in  this  passage  for  repairs,  and  the  enumeration 
of  the  artisans  employed.  No  doubt  Joash  was  guided 
by  Jehoiada  in  setting  about  the  restoration,  but  the 
fact  that  he  gives  the  orders,  while  the  high  priest  is 
not  mentioned,  throws  light  on  the  relative  position 
of  the  two  authorities,  and  on  the  king's  office  as 
guardian  of  the  Temple  and  official  *  head  of  the  church.' 
The  story  comes  in  refreshingly  and  strangely  among 
the  bloody  pages  in  which  it  is  embedded,  and  it 
suggests  some  lessons  as  to  the  virtue  of  plain  common 
sense  and  business  principles  applied  to  religious 
affairs.  If  *  the  outward  business  of  the  house  of  God ' 
were  always  guided  with  as  much  practical  reasonable- 
ness as  Joash  brought  to  bear  on  it,  there  would  be 
fewer  failures  or  sarcastic  critics. 

We  note,  first,  the  true  source  of  money  for  religious 
purposes.  There  was  a  fixed  amount  for  which  '  each 
man  is  rated,'  and  that  made  the  minimum,  but  there 
was  also  that  which  'cometh  into  any  man's  heart 
to  bring,'  and  that  was  infinitely  more  precious  than 
the  exacted  tax.  The  former  was  appropriate  to  the 
Old  Testament,  of  which  the  animating  principle  was 
law  and  the  voice:  'Thou  shalt'  or  'Thou  shalt  not.' 
The  latter  alone  fits  the  New  Testament,  of  which 


V..4-15]    METHODICAL  LIBERALITY       21 

the  animating  principle  is  love  and  the  voice :  *  Though 
I  have  all  boldness  in  Christ  to  enjoin  thee  .  .  .  yet 
for  love's  sake  I  rather  beseech.'  What  disasters  and 
what  stifling  of  the  spirit  of  Christian  liberality  have 
marred  the  Church  for  many  centuries,  and  in  many 
lands,  because  the  great  anachronism  has  prevailed 
of  binding  its  growing  limbs  in  Jewish  swaddling 
bands,  and  degrading  Christian  giving  into  an  assess- 
ment !  And  how  shrunken  the  stream  that  is  squeezed 
out  by  such  a  process,  compared  with  the  abundant 
gush  of  the  fountain  of  love  opened  in  a  grateful, 
trusting  heart ! 

Next,  we  have  the  negligent,  if  not  dishonest,  officials. 
We  do  not  know  how  long  Joash  tried  the  experiment 
of  letting  the  priests  receive  the  money  and  super- 
intend the  repairs ;  but  probably  the  restoration  project 
was  begun  early  in  his  reign,  and  if  so,  he  gave  the 
experiment  of  trusting  all  to  the  officials,  a  fair,  patient 
trial,  till  the  twenty-third  year  of  his  reign.  Years 
gone  and  nothing  done,  or  at  least  nothing  completed ! 
We  do  not  need  to  accuse  them  of  intentional  embezzle- 
ment, but  certainly  they  were  guilty  of  carelessly 
letting  the  money  slip  through  their  fingers,  and  a 
good  deal  of  it  stick  to  their  hands.  It  is  always  the 
temptation  of  the  clergy  to  think  of  their  own  support 
as  a  first  charge  on  the  church,  nor  is  it  quite  unheard 
of  that  the  ministry  should  be  less  enthusiastic  in 
religious  objects  than  the  '  laity,'  and  should  work  the 
enthusiasm  of  the  latter  for  their  own  advantage. 
Human  nature  is  the  same  in  Jerusalem  in  Joash's 
time,  and  to-day  in  Manchester,  or  New  York,  or 
Philadelphia,  and  all  men  who  live  by  the  gifts  of 
Christian  people  have  need  to  watch  themselves,  lest 
they,  like  Ezekiel's  false  shepherds,  feed  themselves 


22  SECOND  BOOK  OF  KINGS     [ch.  xii. 

and  not  the  flock,  and  seek  the  wool  and  the  fat  and 
not  the  good  of  the  sheep. 

Next  we  have  the  application  of  businesslike  methods 
to  religious  work.  It  was  clearly  time  to  take  the 
whole  matter  out  of  the  priests'  hands,  and  Joash  is 
not  afraid  to  assume  a  high  tone  with  the  culprits,  and 
even  with  Jehoiada  as  their  official  head.  He  was 
in  some  sense  responsible  for  his  subordinates,  and 
probably,  though  his  own  hands  were  clean,  he  may 
have  been  too  lax  in  looking  after  the  disposal  of  the 
funds.  Note  that  while  Joash  rebuked  the  priests, 
and  determined  the  new  arrangements,  it  was  Jehoiada 
who  carried  them  out  and  provided  the  chest  for 
receiving  the  contributions.  The  king  wills,  the  high 
priest  executes,  the  rank  and  file  of  the  priests,  how- 
ever against  the  grain,  consent.  The  arrangement  for 
collecting  the  contributions  'saved  the  faces'  of  the 
priests  to  some  extent,  for  the  gifts  were  handed  to 
them,  and  by  them  put  into  the  chest.  But,  of  course, 
that  was  done  at  once,  in  the  donor's  presence.  If 
changes  involving  loss  of  position  are  to  work  smoothly, 
it  is  wise  to  let  the  deposed  officials  down  as  easily 
as  may  be. 

Similar  common  sense  is  shown  in  the  second  step, 
the  arrangement  for  ascertaining  the  amounts  given. 
The  king's  secretary  and  the  high-priest  (or  a  repre- 
sentative) jointly  opened  the  chest,  counted  and  bagged 
up  the  money.  They  checked  each  other,  and  prevented 
suspicion  on  either  side.  No  man  who  regards  his 
own  reputation  will  consent  to  handle  public  money 
without  some  one  to  stand  over  him  and  see  what 
he  does  with  it.  One  would  be  wise  always  to  suspect 
people  who  appeal  for  help  '  for  the  Lord's  work '  and 
are  too  *  spiritual'  to  have   such  worldly   things   as 


vs.  4-15]     METHODICAL  LIBERALITY        23 

committees  or  auditors  of  their  books.  Accurate 
accounts  are  as  essential  to  Christian  work  as  spiritu- 
ality or  enthusiasm.  The  next  stage  was  to  hand  over 
the  money  to  the  *  contractors,'  as  we  should  call  them ; 
and  there  similar  precautions  were  taken  against 
possible  peculation  on  the  part  of  the  two  officials 
who  had  received  the  money,  for  it  was  apparently 
'  weighed  out  into  the  hands '  of  the  overseers,  who 
would  thus  be  able  to  check  what  they  received  by 
what  the  secretary  and  the  high-priest  had  taken  from 
the  chest,  and  would  be  responsible  for  the  expenditure 
of  the  amount  which  the  two  officials  knew  that  they 
had  received. 

But  all  this  system  of  checks  seems  to  break  down 
at  the  very  point  where  it  should  have  worked  most 
searchingly,  for  'they  reckoned  not  with  the  men, 
into  whose  hand  they  delivered  the  money'  to  pay 
the  workmen,  'for  they  dealt  faithfully.'  That  last 
clause  looks  like  a  hit  at  the  priests  who  had  not  dealt 
so,  and  contrasts  the  methods  of  plain  business  men 
of  no  pretensions,  with  those  of  men  whose  very 
calling  should  have  guaranteed  their  trustworthiness. 
The  contrast  has  been  repeated  in  times  and  places 
nearer  home.  But  another  suggestion  may  also  be 
made  about  this  singular  lapse  into  what  looks  like 
unwise  confidence.  These  overseers  had  proved  their 
faithfulness  and  earned  the  right  to  be  trusted  en- 
tirely, and  the  way  to  get  the  best  out  of  a  man,  if 
he  has  any  reliableness  in  him,  is  to  trust  him  utterly, 
and  to  show  him  that  you  do,  'It  is  a  shame  to  tell 
Arnold  a  lie;  he  always  believes  us,'  said  the  Rugby 
boys  about  their  great  head-master.  There  is  a  time 
for  using  all  precautions,  and  a  time  for  using  none. 
Businesslike  methods  do  not  consist  in  spying  at  the 


24  SECOND  BOOK  OF  KINGS    [ch.xiii. 

heels  of  one's  agents,  but  in  picking  the  right  men, 
and,  having  proved  them,  giving  them  a  free  hand. 
And  is  not  that  v^hat  the  great  Lord  and  Employer 
does  with  His  servants,  and  is  it  not  part  of  the  reason 
why  Jesus  gets  more  out  of  us  than  any  one  else  can 
do,  that  He  trusts  us  more  ? 

One  more  point  may  be  noticed;  namely,  the  order 
of  precedence  in  which  the  necessary  works  were  done. 
Not  a  coin  went  to  provide  the  utensils  for  sacrifice 
till  the  Temple  was  completely  repaired.  After  they 
had  '  set  up  the  house  of  God  in  its  state,*  as  Chronicles 
tells  us,  they  took  the  balance  of  the  funds  to  the  king 
and  Jehoiada,  and  spent  that  on  '  vessels  for  the  house.' 
A  clear  insight  to  discern  what  most  needs  to  be  done, 
and  a  firm  resolve  to  'do  the  duty  that  lies  nearest 
thee,'  and  to  let  everything  else,  however  necessary, 
wait  till  it  is  done,  is  a  great  part  of  Christian  prudence, 
and  goes  far  to  make  works  or  lives  truly  prosperous. 
'First  things  first' ! — it  is  a  maxim  that  carries  us  far 
and  as  right  as  far. 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  POWER 

'And  Ellsha  said  to  the  king  of  Israel,  Put  thine  hand  upon  the  bowt  Aid 
he  put  his  hand  upon  it :  and  Elisha  put  his  hands  upon  the  king's  hands.'— 
t  KiNQS  xiii.  16. 

This  is  part  of  one  of  the  strangest  narratives  in  the 
Old  Testament.  Elisha  is  on  his  deathbed,  '  sick  of  the 
sickness '  wherewith  he  •  should  die.'  A  very  different 
scene,  that  close  sick-chamber,  from  the  open  plain 
beyond  Jordan  from  which  Elijah  had  gone  up ;  a  very 
different  way  of  passing  from  life  by  wasting  sickness 
than  by  fiery  chariot !  But  God  is  as  near  His  servant 
in  the  one  place  as  in  the  other,  and  the  slow  wasting 


V.16]        .THE  SPIRIT  OF  POWER  25 

away  is  as  much  His  messenger  as  the  sudden  apo- 
calypse of  the  horsemen  of  fire.  The  king  of  Israel 
comes  to  the  old  prophet,  and  very  significantly  repeats 
over  him  his  own  exclamation  over  Elijah,  *  My  father ! 
My  father !  the  chariot  of  Israel  and  the  horsemen 
thereof.'  Elisha  takes  no  notice  of  the  grief  and  rever- 
ence expressed  by  the  exclamation,  but  goes  straight  to 
his  work,  and  what  follows  is  remarkable  indeed. 

Here  is  a  prophet  dying ;  and  his  last  words  are  not 
edifying  moral  and  religious  reflections,  nor  does  he 
seem  to  be  much  concerned  to  leave  with  the  king  his 
final  protest  against  Israel's  sin,  but  his  thoughts 
are  all  of  warfare,  and  his  last  effort  is  to  stir  up  the 
sluggish  young  monarch  to  some  of  his  own  enthusiasm 
in  the  conflict  with  the  enemy.  It  does  not  sound  like 
an  edifying  deathbed.  People  might  have  said,  '  Ah ! 
secular  and  political  affairs  should  be  all  out  of  a  man's 
mind  when  he  comes  to  his  last  moments.'  But  Elisha 
thought  that  to  stick  to  his  life's  work  till  the  last 
breath  was  out  of  him,  and  to  devote  the  last  breath  to 
stiinulating  successors  who  might  catch  up  the  torch 
that  dropped  from  his  failing  hands,  was  no  unworthy 
end  of  a  prophet's  life. 

So  there  followed  what  perhaps  is  not  very  familiar 
to  some  of  us,  that  strange  scene  in  which  the  dying 
man  is  far  fuller  of  energy  and  vigour  than  the  young 
king,  and  takes  the  upper  hand  of  him,  giving  him  a 
series  of  curt,  authoritative  commands,  each  of  which 
he  punctiliously  obeys.  *  Take  bow  and  arrow,'  and  he 
took  them.  Then  the  prophet  lays  his  wasted  hand  for 
a  moment  on  the  strong,  young  hand,  and  having  thus, 
either  in  symbol  or  reality — never  mind  which — com- 
municated power,  he  says  to  him,  'Fling  open  the 
casement    towards    the    quarter    where    the    enemy's 


26  SECOND  BOOK  OF  KINGS    [ch.xiii. 

territory  lies,'  and  he  flings  it  open.  •  Now,  shoot,'  and 
he  shoots.  Then  the  old  man  gathers  himseK  up  on 
his  bed,  and  with  a  triumphant  shout  exclaims,  'The 
Lord's  arrow  of  victory!  .  .  .  Thou  shalt  smite  the 
Syrians  till  they  be  consumed.' 

That  is  not  all.  There  is  a  second  stage.  The  promise 
is  given ;  the  possibility  is  opened  before  the  king,  and 
now  all  depends  on  the  question  whether  he  will  rise  to 
the  height  of  the  occasion.  So  the  prophet  says  to 
him,  *  Take  the  sheaf  of  arrows  in  your  hand ' ;  and  he 
takes  them.  And  then  he  says,  'Now  smite  upon  the 
ground.'  It  is  a  test.  If  he  had  been  roused  and 
stirred  by  what  had  gone  before;  if  he  had  any 
earnestness  of  belief  in  the  power  that  was  communi- 
cated, and  any  eagerness  of  desire  to  realise  the  pro- 
mises that  had  been  given  of  complete  victory,  what 
would  he  have  done?  What  would  Elisha  have  done 
if  he  had  had  the  quiver  in  his  hand  ?  This  king  smites 
three  perfunctory  taps  on  the  floor,  and  having  done 
what  will  satisfy  the  old  man's  whim,  and  what  in 
decency  he  had  to  do,  he  stops,  as  if  weary  of  the  whole 
performance.  So  the  prophet  bursts  out  in  indignation 
on  his  dying  bed — '  Thou  shouldst  have  smitten  five  or 
six  times;  then  hadst  thou  conquered  utterly.  Now 
thou  shalt  conquer  but  thrice.'  A  strange  story ;  very 
far  away  from  our  atmosphere  and  latitude !  Yet  are 
there  not  obviously  in  it  great  principles  which  may 
be  disentangled  from  their  singular  setting,  and  fully 
applied  to  us  ?  I  think  so.  Let  us  try  and  draw  them 
from  it. 

I.  Here  we  have  the  power  communicated. 

Now  the  story  seems  to  indicate  that  it  was  only  for 
a  moment  that  the  prophet's  hands  were  laid  on  the 
king's  hands,  because,  after  they  had  been  so  laid,  he  is 


T.  16]  THE  SPIRIT  OF  POWER  27 

bidden  to  go  to  the  window  and  fling  it  open,  and  the 
bedridden  man  could  not  go  there  with  him ;  then  he 
is  bidden  to  draw  the  bow,  and  another  hand  upon  his 
would  have  been  a  hindrance  rather  than  a  help.  So 
it  was  but  a  momentary  touch,  a  communication  of 
power  in  reality  or  in  symbol  that  the  muscular  young 
hand  needed,  and  the  wasted  old  one  could  give.  And 
is  that  not  a  parable  for  us?  We,  too,  if  we  are 
Christian  men  and  women,  have  a  gospel  of  which  the 
very  kernel  is  that  there  is  to  us  a  communication  of 
power,  and  the  very  name  of  that  divine  Spirit  whom 
it  is  Christ's  greatest  work  to  send  flashing  and  flaming 
through  the  world,  is  the  *  Spirit  of  Power.'  And  so  the 
old  promise  that  ye  shall  be  clothed  with  strength  from 
on  high  is  the  standing  prerogative  of  the  Christian 
Church.  There  is  not  merely  some  partial  communica- 
tion, as  when  hand  touched  hand,  but  every  organ  is 
vitalised  and  quickened ;  as  in  the  case  of  the  other 
miracle  of  this  prophet,  when  he  stretched  himself  on 
the  dead  child  eye  to  eye,  and  mouth  to  mouth,  and 
hand  to  hand;  and  each  part  received  the  vitalising 
influence.  We  have,  if  we  are  Christian  people,  a 
Spirit  given  to  us,  and  are  *  strengthened  with  might 
by  the  Spirit  in  the  inner  man.' 

That  gift,  that  strength  comes  to  us  by  contact, 
not  with  Elisha,  but  with  Elisha's  Lord  and  Master. 
Christ's  touch,  when  He  was  on  earth,  brought  sight  to 
the  blind,  healing  to  the  sick,  vigour  to  the  limbs  of  the 
lame,  life  to  the  dead.  And  you  and  I  can  have  that 
touch,  far  more  truly,  and  far  more  mightily  operative 
upon  us  than  they  had,  who  only  felt  the  contact  of  His 
finger,  and  only  derived  corporeal  blessing.  For  we 
can  draw  near  to  Him,  and  in  union  with  Him  by 
faith  and  love  and  obedience,  can  have  His  Spirit  in 


28  SECOND  BOOK  OF  KINGS    [ch.xiii. 

close  contact  with  our  spirits,  and  strengthening  us  for 
all  service,  and  for  every  task.  Brethren !  that  touch 
which  gives  strength  is  a  real  thing.  It  is  no  mere 
piece  of  mystical  exaggeration  when  we  speak  of  our 
spirits  being  in  actual  contact  with  Christ's  Spirit. 
Many  of  us  have  no  clear  conception,  and  still  less  a 
firm  realisation,  of  that  closer  than  corporeal  contact, 
more  real  than  bodily  presence,  and  more  intimate 
than  any  possible  physical  union,  which  is  the  great 
gift  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  brings  to  us,  if  we  will, 
life  and  strength  according  to  our  need.  I  would  that 
the  popular  Christianity  of  this  day  had  a  far  larger 
infusion  of  the  sound,  mystical  element  that  lies  in 
the  New  Testament  Christianity,  and  did  not  talk  so 
exclusively  about  a  Christ  that  is  for  us  as  to  have  all 
but  lost  sight  of  the  second  stage  of  our  relation  to 
Christ,  and  lost  a  faith  in  a  Christ  that  is  in  us 
Brethren !  He  can  lay  His  hand  upon  your  spirit's  hand. 
He  can  flash  light  into  your  spirit's  eye  from  His  eye. 
He  can  put  breath  and  eloquence  into  your  spirit's  lips 
from  His  lips,  and  His  heart  beating  against  yours 
can  transfuse — if  I  may  so  say — into  you  His  own  life- 
blood,  which  cleanses  from  all  sin,  and  fits  for  all 
conflict. 

Then,  further,  let  me  remind  you  that  this  power, 
which  is  bestowed  on  condition  of  contact,  is  given 
before  duties  are  commanded.  This  king,  in  our  acted 
parable,  first  had  the  touch  of  Elisha's  fingers,  and 
then  received  the  command  from  Elisha's  lips,  *  Shoot !  * 
So  Jesus  Christ  gives  before  He  commands,  and  com- 
mands nothing  which  He  has  not  fitted  us  to  perform. 
He  is  not  *  an  austere  man,  reaping  where  He  did  not 
sow,  and  gathering  where  He  did  not  straw ' ;  but  He 
comes  first  to  us  saying, '  I  give  thee  Myself,*  and  then 


V.  16]  THE  SPIRIT  OF  POWER  29 

He  looks  us  in  the  eyes  and  says,  *  Wilt  thou  not  give 
Me  thyself?'  He  bestows  the  strength  first,  and  He 
commands  the  consequent  duty  afterwards. 

Further,  this  strength  communicated  is  realised  in 
the  effort  to  obey  Christ's  great  commands.  Joash  felt 
nothing  when  the  prophet's  hand  was  laid  upon  his  but, 
perhaps,  some  tingling.  But  when  he  got  the  bow  in 
his  hand  and  drew  the  arrow  to  its  head,  the  infused 
power  stiffened  his  muscles  and  strengthened  him  to 
pull ;  and  though  he  could  not  distinguish  between  his 
own  natural  corporeal  ability  and  that  which  had  been 
thus  imparted  to  him,  the  two  co-operated  in  the  one 
act,  and  it  was  when  he  drew  his  bow  that  he  felt  his 
strength.  *  Stretch  forth  thine  hand,'  said  Christ  to 
the  lame  man.  But  the  very  infirmity  to  be  dealt  with 
was  his  inability  to  stretch  it  forth.  At  the  command 
he  tried,  and,  to  his  wonder,  the  stiffened  sinews  re- 
laxed, and  the  joint  that  had  been  immovable  had  free 
play,  and  he  stretched  out  his  hand,  and  it  was  restored 
whole  as  the  other.  So  He  gives  what  He  commands, 
and  in  obeying  the  command  we  realise  and  are  con- 
scious of  the  power.  Elisha  and  Joash  but  act  an  illus- 
tration of  the  great  word  of  Paul :  *  Work  out  your 
own  salvation  .  .  .  for  it  is  God  that  worketh  in  you.' 

II.  And  now,  secondly,  look  at  the  perfected  victory 
that  is  possible. 

When  the  arrows,  by  God's  strength  operating 
through  Joash's  arm,  had  been  shot,  the  prophet  says, 
'  The  arrow  of  the  Lord's  victory !  .  .  .  thou  shalt  smite 
.  .  .  till  thou  have  consumed.'  Yes,  of  course;  if  the 
arrow  is  the  Lord's  arrow,  and  the  strength  is  His 
strength,  then  the  only  issue  corresponding  to  the 
power  is  perfect  victory.  I  would  that  Christian 
people  realised  more  than  they  do  practically  in  their 


30  SECOND  BOOK  OF  KINGS   [ch.  xni. 

lives  that  while  men's  ideals  and  aims  may  be  all  un- 
accomplished, or  but  partially  approximated  to,  since 
God  is  God,  His  nature  is  perfection,  and  nothing  that 
He  does  can  fall  beneath  His  ideal  and  purpose  in 
doing  it.  All  that  comes  from  Him  must  correspond 
to  Him  from  whom  it  comes.  He  never  leaves  off  till 
He  has  completed,  nor  can  any  one  say  about  any  of 
His  work,  '  He  began  to  build,  and  was  not  able  to 
finish.'  So,  Christian  people !  I  would  that  we  should 
rise  to  the  height  of  our  prerogatives,  and  realise  the 
fact  that  perfect  victory  is  possible,  regard  being  had 
to  the  power  which  *  teaches  our  hands  to  war  and  our 
fingers  to  fight.'  A  great  deal  of  not  altogether  profit- 
able jangling  goes  on  at  present  in  reference  to  the 
question  of  whether  absolute  sinlessness  is  possible  for 
a  Christian  man  on  earth.  Whatever  view  we  take 
upon  that  question,  it  ought  not  to  hide  from  us  the 
fact  which  should  loom  very  much  more  largely  in  our 
daily  operative  belief  than  it  does  with  most  of  us,  that 
in  so  far  as  the  power  which  is  given  to  us  is  concerned, 
perfect  victory  is  within  our  grasp,  and  is  the  only 
worthy  and  correspondent  result  to  the  perfect  power 
which  worketh  in  us.  So  there  is  no  reason,  as  from 
any  defect  of  the  divine  gift  to  the  weakest  of  us,  why 
our  Christian  lives  should  have  ups  and  downs,  why 
there  should  be  interruptions  in  our  devotion,  fallings 
short  in  our  consecration,  contradictions  in  our  con- 
duct, slidings  backward  in  our  progress.  There  is  no 
reason  why,  in  our  Christian  year,  there  should  be 
summer  and  winter;  but  according  to  the  symbolical 
saying  of  one  of  the  old  prophets,  'The  ploughman 
may  overtake  the  reaper,  and  he  that  treadeth  out  the 
grapes  him  that  soweth  the  seed.'  In  so  far  as  our 
Christian  life  is  concerned,  the  perfection  of  the  power 


V.16]  THE  SPIRIT  OF  POWER  81 

that  is  granted  to  us  involves  the  possibility  of  per- 
fection in  the  recipient. 

And  the  same  thing  is  true  in  reference  to  a  Christian 
man's  work  in  the  world.  God's  Church  has  ample 
resources  to  overcome  the  evil  of  the  world.  The  fire 
is  tremendous,  but  the  Christian  Church  has  possession 
of  the  floods  that  can  extinguish  the  fire.  If  we 
utilised  all  that  we  have,  we  might '  smite  till  we  had 
consumed,'  and  turned  the  world  into  the  Church  of 
God.  That  is  the  ideal,  the  possibility,  when  we  look 
at  the  Christian  man  as  possessor  of  the  communicated 
power  of  God.  And  then  we  turn  to  the  reality,  to  our 
own  consciences,  to  the  state  of  our  religious  com- 
munities everywhere,  and  we  see  what  seems  to  be 
blank  contradiction  of  the  possibility.  Where  is  the 
explanation  ? 

III.  That  brings  me  to  my  last  point,  the  partial 
victory  that  is  actually  won. 

'  Thou  shouldst  have  smitten  five  or  six  times ;  then 
hadst  thou  smitten  the  Syrians  till  they  were  con- 
sumed. But  now  thou  shalt  conquer  but  thrice.'  All 
God's  promises  and  proi-  hecies  are  conditional.  There 
is  no  such  thing  as  an  unconditional  promise  of  victory 
or  of  defeat ;  there  is  always  an  *  if.'  There  is  always 
man's  freedom  as  a  factor.  It  is  strange.  I  suppose 
no  thinking,  metaphysical  or  theological,  ever  has 
solved  or  ever  will,  that  great  paradox  of  the  power 
of  a  finite  will  to  lift  itself  up  in  the  face  of,  and  anta- 
gonism to,  an  Infinite  Will  backed  by  infinite  power, 
and  to  thwart  its  purposes.  •  How  often  would  I  have 
gathered  .  .  .  and  ye  would  not.'  Here  is  all  the  power 
for  a  perfect  victory,  and  yet  the  man  that  has  it  has 
to  be  contented  with  a  very  partial  one. 

It  is  a  solemn  thought  that  the  Church's  unbelief  can 


32  SECOND  BOOK  OF  KINGS    [ch.  xiii. 

limit  and  hinder  Christ's  work  in  the  world,  and  we 
have  here  another  illustration  of  that  truth.  You  will 
find  now  and  then  in  the  newspapers,  stories — they 
may  be  true  or  false — about  caterpillars  stopping  a 
train.  There  is  an  old  legend  of  that  fabulous  creature 
the  remora,  a  tiny  thing  that  fastened  itself  to  the  keel 
of  a  ship,  and  arrested  it  in  mid-ocean.  That  is  what 
we  do  with  God  and  His  purposes,  and  with  His  power 
granted  to  us. 

A  low  expectation  limits  the  power.  This  king  did 
not  believe,  did  not  expect,  that  he  would  conquer 
utterly,  and  so  he  did  not.  You  believe  that  you  can 
do  a  thing,  and  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  that  goes  nine- 
tenths  of  the  way  towards  doing  it.  If  we  cast  our- 
selves into  our  fight  expecting  victory,  the  expectation 
will  realise  itself  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten.  And  the 
man  who  in  faith  refuses  to  say  '  that  beast  of  a  word 
— impossible ! '  will  find  that  '  all  things  are  possible  to 
him  that  believeth.'  *  Expect  great  things  of  God,'  and 
you  will  feel  His  power  tingling  to  your  very  finger- 
tips, and  will  be  able  to  draw  the  arrow  to  its  head, 
and  send  it  whizzing  home  to  its  mark. 

Small  desires  block  the  poAver.  Where  there  is  an 
iron-bound  coast  running  in  one  straight  line,  the 
whole  ocean  may  dash  itself  on  the  cliffs  at  the  base, 
but  it  enters  not  into  the  land ;  but  where  the  shore 
opens  itself  out  into  some  deep  gulf  far  inland,  and 
broad  across  at  the  entrance,  then  the  glad  water 
rushes  in  and  fills  it  all.  Make  room  for  God  in  your 
lives  by  your  desires  and  you  will  get  Him  in  the  full- 
ness of  His  power. 

The  use  of  our  power  increases  our  power.  Joash 
had  an  unused  quiver  full  of  arrows,  and  he  only 
smote  thrice.    'To  him  that  hath  shall  be  given,  and 


V.16]        A  KINGDOM'S  EPITAPH  .^8 

from  him  that  hath  not  shall  be  taken.'  The  reason 
why  many  of  us  professing  Christians  have  so  little  of 
the  strength  of  God  in  our  lives  is  because  we  have 
made  so  little  use  of  the  strength  that  we  have.  Stow 
away  your  seed-corn  in  a  granary  and  do  not  let 
the  air  into  it,  and  weevils  and  rats  will  consume 
it.  Sow  it  broadcast  on  the  fields  with  liberal  hand, 
and  it  will  spring  up,  'some  thirty,  some  sixty,  some 
an  hundredfold.'  Use  increases  strength  in  all  regions, 
and  unused  organs  atrophy  and  wither. 

So,  dear  friends  !  if  we  will  keep  ourselves  in  contact 
with  Christ,  and  tremulously  sensitive  to  His  touch,  if 
we  will  expect  power  according  to  our  tasks  and  our 
needs,  if  we  will  desire  more  of  His  grace,  and  if  we 
will  honestly  and  manfully  use  the  strength  that  we 
have,  then  He  will  'teach  our  hands  to  war  and  our 
fingers  to  fight,'  and  will  give  us  strength,  *  so  that  a 
bow  of  brass  is  bent  by'  our  arms,  and  we  shall  be 
•  more  than  conquerors  through  Him  that  loved  us.' 


A  KINGDOM'S  EPITAPH 

'In  the  ninth  year  of  Hoshea  the  king  of  Assyria  took  Samaria,  and  carried 
Israel  away  into  Assyria,  and  placed  them  in  Halah  and  in  Habor  by  the  river  of 
Gozan,  and  in  the  cities  of  the  Modes.  7.  For  ao  it  was,  that  the  children  of  Israel 
had  sinned  against  the  Lord  their  God,  which  had  brought  them  up  out  of  the 
land  of  Egypt,  from  under  the  hand  of  Pharaoh  king  of  Egypt,  and  had  feared 
other  gods,  8.  And  walked  in  the  statutes  of  the  heathen,  whom  the  Lord  cast  out 
from  before  the  children  of  Israel,  and  of  the  kings  of  Israel,  which  they  had  made. 
9.  And  the  children  of  Israel  did  secretly  those  things  that  were  not  right  against  the 
Lord  their  God,  and  they  built  them  high  places  in  all  their  cities,  from  the  tower 
of  the  watchmen  to  the  fenced  city.  10.  And  they  set  them  up  images  and  groves  in 
every  high  hiU,  and  under  every  green  tree :  11.  And  there  they  burnt  incense  in  all 
the  high  places,  as  did  the  heathen  whom  the  Lord  carried  away  before  them ;  and 
wrought  wicked  things  to  provoke  the  Lord  to  anger  :  12.  For  they  served  idols, 
■whereof  the  Lord  had  said  unto  them.  Ye  shall  not  do  this  thing.  13.  Yet  the  Lord 
testified  against  Israel,  and  against  Judah,  by  all  the  prophets  and  by  all  the  seers, 
saying.  Turn  ye  from  your  evil  ways,  and  keep  My  commandments  and  My 
statutes,  according  to  all  the  law  which  I  commanded  your  fathers,  and  which  I 
sent  to  yoii  by  My  servants  the  prophets.  14.  Notwithstanding  they  would  not  hear, 
but  hardened  their  necks,  like  to  the  neck  of  their  fathers,  that  did  not  believe  in 
the  Lord  their  God.    15.  And  they  rejected  His  statutes,  and  His  covenant  that  He 


34        SECOND  BOOK  OF  KINGS       [ch.xvii. 

made  with  their  fathers,  and  His  testimonies  which  He  testified  against  them;  and 
they  followed  vanity,  and  became  vain,  and  went  after  the  heathen  that  were 
round  about  them,  concerning  whom  the  Lord  had  charged  them,  that  they  should 
not  do  like  them.  16.  And  they  left  all  the  commandments  of  the  Lord  their  God, 
and  made  them  molten  images,  even  two  calves,  and  made  a  grove,  and  wor- 
shipped all  the  host  of  heaven,  and  served  Baal.  17.  And  they  caused  their  sons  and 
their  daughters  to  pass  through  the  fire,  aud  used  divination  and  enchantments, 
and  sold  themselves  to  do  evil  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord,  to  provoke  Him  to  anger. 
18.  Therefore  the  Lord  was  very  angry  with  Israel,  and  removed  them  out  of  His 
sight :  there  was  none  left  but  the  tribe  of  Judah  only.'— 2  Kinqb  xvii.  6-18. 

The  brevity  of  the  account  of  the  fall  of  Samaria  in 
verse  6  contrasts  with  the  long  enumeration  of  the  sins 
which  caused  it,  in  the  rest  of  this  passage.  Modern 
critics  assume  that  verses  7-23  are  '  an  interpolation  by 
the  Deuteronomic  writer/  apparently  for  no  reason  but 
because  they  trace  Israel's  fall  to  its  cause  in  idolatry. 
But  surely  the  bare  notice  in  verse  6,  immediately 
followed  by  verse  24,  cannot  have  been  all  that  the 
original  historian  had  to  say  about  so  tragic  an  end  of 
so  large  a  part  of  the  people  of  God.  The  whole  pur- 
pose of  the  Old  Testament  history  is  not  to  chronicle 
events,  but  to  declare  God's  dealings,  and  the  fall  of  a 
kingdom  was  of  little  moment,  except  as  revealing  the 
righteousness  of  God. 

The  main  part  of  this  passage,  then,  is  the  exposi- 
tion of  the  causes  of  the  national  ruin.  It  is  a  post 
mortem  inquiry  into  the  diseases  that  killed  a  kingdom. 
At  first  sight,  these  verses  seem  a  mere  heaping  to- 
gether, not  without  some  repetition,  of  one  or  two 
charges;  but,  more  closely  looked  at,  they  disclose  a 
very  striking  progress  of  thought.  In  the  centre  stands 
verse  13,  telling  of  the  mission  of  the  prophets.  Before 
it,  verses  7-12,  narrate  Israel's  sin,  which  culminates 
in  provoking  the  Lord  to  anger  (ver.  11).  After  it,  the 
sins  are  reiterated  with  noticeable  increase  of  emphasis, 
and  again  culminate  in  provoking  the  Lord  to  anger 
(ver.  17).  So  we  have  two  degrees  of  guilt — one  before 
and  one  after  the  prophets'  messages;  and  two  kind- 


vs.  6-18]       A  KINGDOM'S  EPITAPH  35 

lings  of  God's  anger — one  which  led  to  the  sending  of 
the  prophets,  and  one  which  led  to  the  destruction 
of  Israel.  The  lessons  that  flow  from  this  obvious 
progress  of  thought  are  plain. 

I.  The  less  culpable  apostasy  before  the  prophets' 
warnings.  The  first  words  of  verse  7,  rendered  as  in 
the  Revised  Version,  give  the  purpose  of  all  that 
follows  ;  namely,  to  declare  the  causes  of  the  calamity 
just  told.  Note  that  the  first  characteristic  of  Israel's 
sin  was  ungrateful  departure  from  God.  There  is  a 
world  of  pathos  and  meaning  in  that  '  their  God,'  which 
is  enhanced  by  the  allusion  to  the  Egyptian  deliverance. 
All  sins  are  attempts  to  break  the  chain  which  binds 
us  to  God — a  chain  woven  of  a  thousand  linked  benefits. 
All  practically  deny  His  possession  of  us,  and  ours 
of  Him,  and  display  the  short  memory  which  ingrati- 
tude has.  All  have  that  other  feature  hinted  at  here — 
the  contrast,  so  absurd  if  it  were  not  so  sad,  between  the 
worth  and  power  of  the  God  who  is  left  and  the  other 
gods  who  are  preferred.  The  essential  meanness  and 
folly  of  Israel  are  repeated  by  every  heart  departing 
from  the  living  God. 

The  double  origin  of  the  idolatry  is  next  set  forth. 
It  was  in  part  imported  and  in  part  home-made.  We 
have  little  conception  of  the  strength  of  faith  and 
courage  which  were  needed  to  keep  the  Jews  from 
becoming  idolaters,  surrounded  as  they  were  by  such. 
But  the  same  are  needed  to-day  to  keep  us  from  learn- 
ing the  ways  of  the  world  and  getting  a  snare  to  our 
souls.  Now,  as  ever,  walking  with  God  means  walking 
in  the  opposite  direction  from  the  crowd,  and  that 
requires  some  firm  nerve.  The  home-made  idolatry  is 
gibbeted  as  being  according  to  *the  statutes  of  the 
kings.'    What  right  had  they  to  prescribe  their  subjects' 


36        SECOND  BOOK  OF  KINGS      [oh.  xvii. 

religion  ?  The  influence  of  influential  people,  especially 
if  exerted  against  the  service  of  God,  is  hard  to  resist ; 
but  it  is  no  excuse  for  sin  that  it  is  fashionable. 

The  blindness  of  Israel  to  the  consequences  of  their 
sin  is  hinted  in  the  reference  to  the  fate  of  the  nations 
whom  they  imitated.  They  had  been  cast  out ;  would 
not  their  copyists  learn  the  lesson  ?  We,  too,  have 
examples  enough  of  what  godless  lives  come  to,  if  we 
had  the  sense  to  profit  by  them.  The  God  who  cast  out 
the  vile  Canaanites  and  all  the  rest  of  the  wicked  crew 
before  the  sons  of  the  desert  has  not  changed,  and  will 
treat  Israel  as  He  did  them,  if  Israel  come  down  to  their 
level.  Outward  privileges  make  idolatry  or  any  sin 
more  sinful,  and  its  punishment  more  severe. 

Another  characteristic  of  Israel's  sin  is  its  being  done 
'  secretly.'  Of  the  various  meanings  proposed  for  that 
word  (ver.  9)  the  best  seems  to  be  that  it  refers  to  the 
attempt  to  combine  the  worship  of  God  and  of  idols,  of 
which  the  calf  worship  is  an  instance.  Elijah  had  long 
ago  taunted  the  people  with  trying  '  to  hobble  on  both 
knees,'  or  on  'two  opinions'  at  once;  and  here  the 
charge  is  of  covering  idolatry  with  a  cloak  of  Jehovah 
worship.  A  varnish  of  religion  is  convenient  and 
cheap,  and  often  effectual  in  deceiving  ourselves  as 
well  as  others ;  but  *  as  a  man  thinketh  in  his  heart, 
so  is  he,'  whatever  his  cloak  may  be;  and  the  thing 
which  we  count  most  precious  and  long  most  for  is  our 
god,  whatever  our  professions  of  orthodox  religion. 

The  idolatry  is  then  described,  in  rapid  touches,  as 
universal.  Wherever  there  was  a  solitary  watchman's 
tower  among  the  pastures  there  was  a  high  place,  and 
they  were  reared  in  every  city.  Images  and  Asherim 
deformed  every  hill-top  and  stood  under  every  spread- 
ing tree.     Everywhere  incense  loaded  the  heavy  air 


vs.  6-18]      A  KINGDOM'S  EPITAPH  37 

with  its  foul  fragrance.  The  old  scenes  of  unnamable 
abomination,  which  had  been  so  terribly  avenged, 
seemed  to  have  come  back,  and  to  cry  aloud  for  another 
purging  by  fire  and  sword. 

The  terrible  upshot  of  all  was  '  to  provoke  the  Lord 
to  anger.'  The  New  Testament  is  as  emphatic  as  the 
Old  in  asserting  that  there  is  the  capacity  of  anger  in 
the  God  whose  name  is  love,  and  that  sin  calls  it  forth. 
The  special  characteristic  of  sin,  by  which  it  thus 
attracts  that  lightning,  is  that  it  is  disobedience.  As 
in  the  first  sin,  so  in  all  others,  God  has  said,  •  Ye  shall 
not  do  this  thing' ;  and  we  say,  '  Do  it  we  will.'  What 
can  the  end  of  that  be  but  the  anger  of  the  Lord? 
'Because  of  these  things  cometh  the  wrath  of  God 
upon  the  children  of  disobedience.' 

II.  Verse  13  gives  the  pleading  of  Jehovah.  The 
mission  of  the  prophets  was  God's  reply  to  Israel's 
rebellion,  and  was  equally  the  sign  of  His  anger  and  of 
His  love.  The  more  sin  abounds,  the  more  does  God 
multiply  means  to  draw  back  to  Himself.  The  deafer 
the  ears,  the  louder  the  beseeching  voice  of  His  grieved 
and  yet  pitying  love.  His  anger  clothes  itself  in  more 
stringent  appeals  and  clearer  revelations  of  Himself 
before  it  takes  its  slaughtering  weapons  in  hand.  The 
darker  the  background  of  sin,  the  brighter  the  beams 
of  His  light  show  against  it.  Man's  sin  is  made  the 
occasion  for  a  more  glorious  display  of  God's  character 
and  heart.  It  is  on  the  storm-cloud  that  the  sun  paints 
the  rainbow.  Each  successive  stage  in  man's  departure 
from  God  evoked  a  corresponding  increase  in  the 
divine  effort  to  attract  him  back,  till  'last  of  all  He 
sent  unto  them  His  Son.'  In  nature,  attraction  dimi- 
nishes as  distance  increases  ;  in  the  realms  of  grace,  it 
grows  with  distance.    The  one  desire  of  God's  heart  is 


38        SECOND  BOOK  OF  KINGS       [ch.xvii. 

that  sinners  would  return  from  their  evil  ways,  and  He 
presses  on  them  the  solemn  thought  of  the  abundant 
intimations  of  His  will  which  have  been  given  from 
of  old,  and  are  pealed  again  into  all  ears  by  living 
voices.  His  law  for  us  is  not  merely  an  old  story 
spoken  centuries  ago,  but  is  vocal  in  our  consciences 
to-day,  and  fresh  as  when  Sinai  flamed  and  thundered 
above  the  camp,  and  the  trumpet  thrilled  each  heart. 

III.  The  heavier  sin  that  followed  the  divine  pleading. 
That  divine  voice  leaves  no  man  as  it  finds  him.  If  it 
does  not  sway  him  to  obedience,  it  deepens  his  guilt, 
and  makes  him  more  obstinate.  Like  some  perverse 
ox  in  the  yoke,  he  stiffens  his  neck,  and  stands  the  very 
picture  of  brute  obduracy.  There  is  an  awful  alterna- 
tive involved  in  our  hearing  of  God's  message,  which 
never  returns  to  Him  void,  but  ever  does  something  to 
the  hearer,  either  softening  or  hardening,  either  scaling 
the  eyes  or  adding  another  film  on  them,  either  being 
the  'savour  of  life  unto  life  or  of  death  unto  death.' 
The  mission  of  the  prophets  changed  forgetf ulness  of 
God's  '  statutes '  into  *  rejection '  of  them,  and  made 
idolatry  self-conscious  rebellion.  Alas,  that  men 
should  make  what  is  meant  to  be  a  bond  to  unite  them 
to  God  into  a  wedge  to  part  them  farther  from  Him ! 
But  how  constantly  that  is  the  effect  of  the  gospel,  and 
for  the  same  reason  as  in  Israel — that  they  'did  not 
believe  in  the  Lord  their  God ' ! 

The  miserable  result  on  the  sinners'  own  natures  is 
described  with  pregnant  brevity  in  verse  15.  '  They 
followed  vanity,  and  became  vain.'  The  worshipper 
became  like  the  thing  worshipped,  as  is  always  the 
case.  The  idol  is  vanity,  utter  emptiness  and  nonentity; 
and  whoever  worships  nothingness  will  become  in  his 
own  inmost  life  as  empty  and  vain  as  it  is.    That  is  the 


vs.  6  18]      A  KINGDOM'S  EPITAPH  39 

retribution  attendant  on  all  trust  in,  and  longing  after, 
the  trifles  of  earth,  that  we  come  down  to  the  level  of 
what  we  set  our  hearts  upon.  We  see  the  effects  of 
that  principle  in  the  moral  degradation  of  idolaters. 
Gods  lustful,  cruel,  capricious,  make  men  like  them- 
selves. We  see  it  working  upwards  in  Christianity, 
in  which  God  becomes  man  that  men  may  become  like 
God,  and  of  which  the  whole  law  is  put  into  one  pre- 
cept, which  is  sure  to  be  kept,  in  the  measure  of 
the  reality  of  a  man's  religion.  'Be  ye  therefore 
imitators  of  God,  as  beloved  children.' 

In  verses  16  and  17  the  details  of  the  idolatry  follow 
the  general  statement,  as  in  verses  9  to  12,  but  with 
additions  and  with  increased  severity  of  tone.  We 
hear  now  of  calves  and  star  worship,  and  Baal,  and 
burning  children  to  Moloch,  and  divination  and  en- 
chantment. The  catalogue  is  enlarged,  and  there  is 
added  to  it  the  terrible  declaration  that  Israel  had 
'sold  themselves  to  do  evil  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord.' 
The  same  thing  was  said  by  Elijah  to  Ahab — a  noble 
instance  of  courage.  The  sinner  who  steels  himself 
against  the  divine  remonstrance,  does  not  merely  go 
on  in  his  old  sins,  but  adds  new  ones.  Begin  with  the 
calves,  and  fancy  that  you  are  worshipping  Jehovah, 
and  you  will  end  with  Baal  and  Moloch.  Refuse  to 
hear  God's  pleadings,  and  you  will  sell  your  freedom, 
and  become  the  lowest  and  only  real  kind  of  slave — the 
bondsman  of  evil.  When  that  point  of  entire  aban- 
donment to  sin,  which  Paul  calls  being  '  sold  under  sin,' 
is  reached,  as  it  may  be  reached,  at  all  events  by  a 
nation,  and  corruption  has  struck  too  deep  to  be  cast 
out,  once  again  the  anger  of  the  Lord  is  provoked  ;  but 
this  time  it  comes  in  a  different  guise.  The  armies  of 
the  Assyrians,  not  the  prophets,  are  its   messengers 


40        SECOND  BOOK  OF  KINGS       [ch.  xvii. 

now.  Israel  had  made  itself  like  the  nations  whom 
God  had  used  it  to  destroy,  and  now  it  shall  be  de- 
stroyed as  they  were. 

To  be  swept  out  of  His  sight  is  the  fate  of  obstinate 
rejection  of  His  commandments  and  pleadings.  Israel 
made  itself  the  slave  of  evil,  and  was  made  the  captive 
of  Assyria.  Self-willed  freedom,  which  does  as  it  likes, 
and  heeds  not  God,  ends  in  bondage,  and  is  itself 
bondage.  God's  anger  against  sin  speaks  pleadingly 
to  us  all,  saying,  'Do  not  this  abominable  thing  that 
I  hate.'  Well  for  us  if  we  hearken  to  His  voice  when 
'  His  anger  is  kindled  but  a  little.'  If  we  do  not  yield 
to  Him,  and  cast  away  our  idols,  we  shall  become  vain 
as  they.  Our  evil  will  be  more  fatal,  and  our  obstinacy 
more  criminal,  because  He  called,  and  we  refused. 
'Who  may  abide  the  day  of  His  coming?  and  who 
shall  stand  when  He  appeareth?'  These  captives, 
dragging  their  weary  limbs,  with  despair  in  their 
hearts,  across  the  desert  to  a  land  of  bondage,  were  but 
shadows,  in  the  visible  region  of  things,  of  the  far  more 
doleful  and  dreary  fate  that  sooner  or  later  must  fall 
on  those  who  would  none  of  God's  counsel,  and  de- 
spised all  His  reproof,  but  cling  to  their  idol  till  they 
and  it  are  destroyed  together. 


DIVIDED  WORSHIP 

•  These  nations  feared  the  Lord,  and  served  their  own  gods.'— 2  Knfos  xvii  SS. 

The  kingdom  of  Israel  had  come  to  its  fated  end.  Its 
king  and  people  had  been  carried  away  captives  in 
accordance  with  the  cruel  policy  of  the  great  Eastern 
despotisms,  which  had  so  much  to  do  with  weakening 
them  by  their  very  conquests.     The    land    had  lain 


V.33]  DIVIDED  WORSHIP  41 

desolate  and  uncultivated  for  many  years,  savage 
beasts  had  increased  in  the  untilled  solitudes,  even  as 
weeds  and  nettles  grew  in  the  gardens  and  vineyards 
of  Samaria.  At  last  the  king  of  Assyria  resolved  to 
people  the  country;  and  for  this  purpose  he  sent  a 
mixed  multitude  from  the  different  nationalities  of  his 
empire  to  the  land  of  Israel.  They  were  men  of  five 
nationalities,  most  of  them  recently  conquered.  Israel 
had  been  deported  to  different  parts  of  the  Assyrian 
empire ;  men  from  different  parts  of  the  empire  were 
deported  to  the  land  of  Israel.  Such  cruel  uprootings 
seemed  to  be  wisdom,  but  were  really  a  policy  that  kept 
alive  disaffection.  It  was  the  same  mistake  (and 
bore  the  same  fruits)  as  Austria  pursued  in  sending 
Hungarian  regiments  to  keep  down  Venice,  and 
Venetian-bom  soldiers  to  overawe  Hungary. 

These  new  settlers  brought  with  them  their  national 
peculiarities,  and  among  the  rest,  their  gods.  They 
knew  nothing  about  the  Jehovah  whom  they  supposed 
to  be  the  local  deity  of  Israel ;  and  when  they  were 
troubled  by  the  wild  beasts  which  had,  of  course, 
rapidly  increased  in  the  land,  they  attributed  it  to 
their  neglect  of  His  worship,  and  sent  an  embassy  to 
the  king  of  Assyria  telling  that  as  they  *know  not 
the  manners  of  the  God  of  the  land,'  He  has  sent  lions 
among  them. 

This  is  an  instructive  example  of  the  heathen  way  of 
thinking.  They  have  their  local  deities.  Each  land, 
each  valley,  each  mountain  top,  has  its  own.  They 
are  ready  to  worship  them  all,  for  they  have  no  real 
worship  for  any.  Their  reason  for  worship  is  to  escape 
from  harm,  to  pay  the  tribute  to  which  the  god  has 
a  right  on  his  own  territory,  lest  he  should  make  it 
the  worse  for  them  if  they  neglect   it.     *The    mild 


42        SECOND  BOOK  OF  KINGS       [ch.xvii. 

tolerance  of  heathendom*  simply  means  the  utter 
absence  of  religion  and  an  altogether  inadequate 
notion  of  deity. 

So  the  settlers  have  sent  to  them  one  of  these 
schismatic  priests  who  had  belonged  to  the  extinct 
sanctuary  at  Beth-el,  and  he,  apparently,  not  having 
any  truer  notions  of  God  or  of  worship  than  they  had, 
nothing  loth,  teaches  them  the  rites  of  the  Israelite 
worship,  which  was  not  like  that  of  Judah,  as  is 
distinctly  stated  in  the  context.  This  worship  of 
Jehovah  was,  however,  blended  by  them  with  their 
own  national  idolatry.  How  contemptuously  the 
historian  enumerates  the  hard  names  of  their  gods 
and  the  rabble  rout  of  them  which  each  nation  made  I 
'The  men  of  Babylon  made  Succoth-benoth '  (pro- 
bably a  deity,  though  the  name  may  mean  booths  for 
purposes  of  prostitution)  and  the  others  *  made  Nergal 
and  Ashima  and  Nibhaz  and  Tartak.'  What  names, 
and  what  a  pantheon !  '  They  feared  the  Lord  and 
served  their  own  gods.' 

This  was  the  beginning  of  the  Samaritan  people, 
whom  we  find  through  the  rest  of  Scripture  even 
down  to  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  retaining  some 
trace  of  their  heathen  origin.  Simon  Magus  bewitched 
them  in  his  sorceries.  They  began  as  heathen,  though 
in  lapse  of  years  they  came  to  be  pure  monotheists, 
even  more  rigid  than  the  Jews  themselves,  and  to- 
day, if  you  went  to  Nablus,  you  would  find  the  small 
remnant  of  their  descendants  adhering  to  Moses  and 
the  law,  guarding  their  sacred  copy  of  the  Pentateuch 
with  unintelligent  awe,  and  eating  the  Paschal  Lamb 
with  wild  rites.  They  have  changed  the  object  of 
their  worship,  but  one  fears  that  it  is  little  more 
real  and  deep  than  in  old  days,  2500  years  ago,  when 


V.33]  DIVIDED  WORSHIP  43 

their  forefathers  'feared  the  Lord  and  served  their 
own  gods.' 

Now  I  venture  to  take  this  verse  as  indicative  of  a 
tendency  which  belongs  to  a  great  many  more  people 
than  the  confused  mass  of  settlers  that  were  shot 
down  on  the  hills  of  Israel  by  the  king  of  Assyria.  It 
is  really  a  description  of  a  great  deal  of  what  goes  by 
the  name  of  religion  amongst  us. 

I.  The  Religion  of  Fear. 

These  people  would  never  have  thought  about  Gt)d 
if  it  had  not  been  for  the  lions.  When  they  did  think 
of  Him  it  was  only  to  tremble  before  Him.  The  reason 
for  their  trembling  was  that  they  did  not  know  the 
etiquette  of  His  worship ;  that  they  thought  of  Him  as 
having  rights  over  them  because  they  had  come  into 
His  territory,  which  He  would  exact,  or  punish  them 
for  omitting.  In  a  word,  their  notion  of  God  was  that 
of  a  jealous,  capricious  tyrant,  whose  ways  were  inscrut- 
able to  them,  in  whose  territory  they  found  themselves 
without  their  will,  and  who  needed  to  be  propitiated  if 
they  would  live  in  peace. 

And  this  is  the  thought  which  is  most  operative  in 
many  minds,  though  it  is  veiled  in  more  seemly  phrases, 
and  which  darkens  and  injures  all  those  on  whom  it 
lays  hold.  Need  I  spend  time  in  showing  you  how, 
point  by  point,  this  picture  is  a  picture  of  many  among 
us  ?  How  many  of  you  think  of  God  when  you  are  ill, 
and  forget  Him  when  you  are  well?  How  many  of 
you  pour  out  a  prayer  when  you  are  in  trouble,  and 
forget  all  about  Him  and  it  when  you  are  prosperous  ? 
How  many  of  you  see  God  in  your  calamities  and  not 
in  your  joys  ?  Why  do  people  call  sudden  deaths  and 
the  like  the  '  visitation  of  God '  ?  How  many  of  us  are 
like  Italian  sailors  who  burn  candles  and  shriek  out  to 


44        SECOND  BOOK  OF  KINGS       [ch.  xvii. 

the  Madonna  when  the  storm  catches  them,  and  get 
drunk  in  the  first  wine-shop  which  they  come  to  when 
they  land !  Is  not  many  a  man's  thought  of  God,  '  I 
knew  Thee  that  Thou  wert  an  austere  Man,  and  I  was 
afraid '  ? 

The  popular  religion  is  largely  a  religion  of  fear. 

There  is  a  fear  which  is  right  and  nohle.  That  is 
reverend,  humble  adoration  at  the  sight  or  thought  of 
God's  great  perfections.  Angels  veil  their  faces  with 
their  wings.  Such  awe  has  no  thought  of  personal 
consequences — is  inseparable  from  all  true  knowledge 
of  God ;  for  all  greatness  of  character  is  perfected  by 
love.     Of  such  fear  we  are  not  now  speaking. 

Terror  of  God  is  deep  in  men's  hearts. 

Fear  is  the  apprehension  of  personal  evil  from  some 
person  or  thing.  Now  I  believe  that  terror  has  its 
place  in  the  human  economy,  and  -n  religion,  as  the 
sense  of  pain  has.  There  is  something  in  man's 
relations  to  God  to  cause  it. 

The  Bible  sets  forth  *the  terror  of  the  Lord,'  that 
men  may  tremble  before  Him.  Moses  said,  '  I  exceed- 
ingly fear  and  quake.'  But  that  terror  is  only  right 
when  it  proceeds  from  a  sense  of  God's  holiness  and  a 
consciousness  of  my  own  sinfulness.  It  is  not  right 
when  it  is  a  mere  dread  of  a  hard  tyrant.  That  terror 
is  only  right  when  it  leads  to  a  joyful  acceptance  of 
God's  revelation  of  His  love  in  Christ. 

Fear  was  never  meant  to  be  permanent,  it  is  only 
the  alarum-bell  which  rings  to  wake  up  the  soul  that 
sleeps  on  when  in  mortal  peril.  And  it  should  pass 
into  penitence,  faith,  joy  in  Jesus.  '  We  have  access 
with  confidence  by  the  faith  of  Him.'  The  brightness 
is  great  and  awful,  but  go  nearer,  as  you  can  in  Jesus, 
and  lo  !  there  is  love  in  the  brightness.    You  see  it  all 


V.33]  DIVIDED  WORSHIP  45 

tender  and  sweet.  A  heart  and  a  hand  are  there,  and 
from  the  midst  of  it  the  Father's  voice  speaks,  and  says, 
'  My  son,  give  Me  thine  heart.' 

The  religion  of  fear  is  worthless.  It  produces  no 
holiness,  it  does  nothing  for  a  man,  it  does  not  bind 
him  to  God.  He  is  none  the  stronger  for  it.  It  paralyses 
so  far  as  it  does  anything. 

It  is  spasmodic  and  intermittent.  It  is  impossible  to 
keep  it  up,  so  it  comes  in  fits  and  starts.  When  the 
morning  comes  men  laugh  at  their  terrors.  It  leads 
to  wild  endeavours  to  forget  God — atheism — to  insensi- 
bility. He  who  begins  by  fearing  when  there  wai  no 
need,  ends  by  not  fearing  when  he  ought. 

II.  The  Religion  of  Form. 

The  Samaritans'  whole  worship  was  outward  worship. 
They  did  the  things  which  the  Beth-el  priest  taught  them 
to  do,  and  that  was  all. 

And  this  again  is  a  type,  very  common  in  our  day. 
Religion  must  have  forms.  The  forms  often  help  to 
bring  us  the  spirit.  But  we  are  always  in  danger  of 
trusting  to  them  too  much. 

How  many  of  us  have  our  Cliristianity  only  in  out- 
ward seeming  ?  The  only  thing  that  unites  men  to 
God  is  love. 

So  your  external  connection  with  God's  worship  is 
of  no  use  at  all  unless  you  have  that. 

Church  and  chapel-goers  are  alike  exposed  to  the 
danger  of  erecting  the  forms  of  worship  to  a  place 
in  which  they  cannot  be  put  without  marring  the  spirit 
of  worship.  Whether  our  worship  be  more  or  less 
symbolic,  whether  we  have  a  more  or  less  elaborate 
ritual,  whether  we  think  more  or  less  of  sacraments, 
whether  we  put  hearing  a  sermon  as  more  or  less 
prominent,  or  even  if  we  follow  the  formleis  forms  of 


46        SECOND  BOOK  OF  KINGS       [ch.  xvii. 

the  Friends,  we  are  all  tempted  to  substitute  our  forms 
for  the  spirit  which  alone  is  worship. 

III.  The  Religion  of  Compromise  or  Worldliness. 

They  had  God  and  they  had  gods.  They  liked  the 
latter  best.  They  gave  God  formal  worship,  but  they 
gave  the  others  more  active  service. 

Such  a  kind  of  religion  is  a  type  of  much  that  we 
see  around  us ;  the  attempt  to  bo  Christians  and 
worldlings,  the  indecision  under  which  many  men 
labour  all  their  lives,  being  drawn  one  way  by  their 
consciences,  another  by  their  inclinations. 

You  cannot  unite  the  two.  God  requires  all.  He 
fills  the  heart,  and  claims  supreme  control  over  all 
the  nature.  There  cannot  be  two  supreme  in  th^ 
soul.  It  cannot  be  God  and  self.  It  must  be  God  or 
self.  You  may  look  now  one  way  and  now  another, 
but  the  way  the  heart  goes  is  the  thing.  Mr.  Facing- 
both-ways  does  not  really  face  both  ways.  He  only 
turns  quickly  round  from  one  to  the  other. 

Such  divided  religion  is  impossible  in  the  nature  of 
God — of  the  soul — of  religion. 

To  attempt  it,  then,  is  really  to  decide  against  God. 

It  is  weak  and  unmanly  to  be  thus  vague  and 
decided  by  circumstances.  You  would  have  been  a 
Mohammedan  if  you  had  been  born  in  Turkey. 

You  ought  to  decide  for  God. 

He  claims,  He  deserves,  He  will  reward  and  bless, 
your  whole  soul. 

•  Choose  you  this  day  whom  ye  will  serve.  If  the 
Lord  be  God,  follow  Him.'  If  Baal  or  Succoth-benoth, 
then  follow  him.  'You  cannot  serve  God  and  Mammon.' 
•  He  that  is  not  for  us  is  against  us.'  Be  one  thing  or 
the  other. 


HEZEKIAH,  A  PATTERN  OF  DEVOUT  LIFE 

'Hezekiah  trusted  in  the  Lord  God  of  Israel.  ...  6.  He  clave  to  the  Lord,  and 
departed  not  from  following  Hiui,  but  kept  His  commandments.'— 2  Kings  xvili.  5, 6. 

Devout  people  in  all  ages  and  stations  are  very  much 
like  each  other.  The  elements  of  godliness  are  always 
the  same.  This  king  of  Israel,  something  like  two 
thousand  six  hundred  years  ago,  and  the  humblest 
Christian  to-day  have  the  family  likeness  on  their 
faces.  These  words,  which  are  an  outline  sketch  of  the 
king's  character,  are  really  a  sketch  of  the  religious  life 
at  all  times  and  in  all  places.  He  realised  it ;  why  may 
not  we?  He  achieved  it  amid  much  ignorance;  why 
should  not  we  amid  our  blaze  of  knowledge?  He 
accomplished  it  amid  the  temptations  of  a  monarchy  ; 
why  should  not  we  in  our  humbler  spheres  ? 

There  are  four  things  set  forth  here  as  constituting  a 
religious  life.  We  begin  at  the  bottom  with  the  founda- 
tion of  everything.  'He  trusted  in  the  Lord  God  of 
Israel.'  The  Old  Testament  is  just  as  emphatic  in  de- 
claring that  there  is  no  religion  without  trust,  and  that 
trust  is  the  very  nerve  and  life-blood  of  religion,  as  is 
the  New.  Only  that  in  the  one  half  of  the  book  our 
translators  have  chosen  to  use  the  word  '  trust,'  and  in 
the  other  half  of  the  book  they  have  chosen  to  use,  for 
the  very  same  act,  the  word  '  faith.'  They  have  thus 
somewhat  obscured  the  absolute  identity  which  exists 
in  the  teaching  of  the  Old  and  of  the  New  Testament  as 
regards  the  bond  which  unites  men  to  God.  That  union 
always  was,  and  always  will  be,  begun  in  the  simple 
attitude  and  exercise  of  trust,  and  everything  else  will 
come  out  of  that,  and  without  that  nothing  else  will 
come. 

47 


48       SECOND  BOOK  OF  KINGS      [ch.  xvm. 

So  this  king  had  a  certain  measure  of  knowledge 
about  the  character  of  God,  and  that  measure  of  know- 
ledge led  him  to  lean  all  his  weight  upon  the  Lord. 
You  and  I  know  a  great  deal  more  about  God  and  His 
ways  and  purposes  than  Hezekiah  did,  but  we  can  make 
no  better  use  of  it  than  he  did — translate  our  knowledge 
into  faith,  and  rely  with  simple,  absolute  confidence  on 
Him  whose  name  we  know  in  Christ  more  fully  and 
blessedly  than  was  possible  to  Hezekiah. 

And  need  I  remind  you  of  how,  in  this  life  of  which 
the  outline  is  here  given  and  the  inmost  secret  is  here 
disclosed,  there  were  significant  and  magnificent  in- 
stances of  the  power  of  humble  trust  to  bring  to  an 
else  helpless  man  all  the  blessings  that  he  needs,  and  to 
put  a  crystal  wall  round  about  him  that  will  preserve 
him  from  every  evil,  howsoever  threatening  it  miay 
seem? 

*It  has  come  addressed  to  me,  but  it  is  meant  for 
Thee.  Vindicate  Thine  own  cause  by  delivering  Thine 
own  servant.'  And  so,  'when  the  morning  dawned, 
they  were  all  dead  men,'  and  faith  rejoiced  in  a  perfect 
deliverance.  And  you  and  I  may  get  the  same  answer, 
in  the  midst  of  all  our  trials,  difficulties,  toils,  and  con- 
flicts, if  only  we  will  go  the  same  way  to  get  it,  and  let 
our  faith  work,  as  Hezekiah's  worked,  and  take  every- 
thing that  troubles  us  to  our  Father  in  the  heavens,  and 
be  quite  sure  that  He  is  the  God  '  who  daily  bears  our 
burdens.'  Let  us  begin  with  the  simple  act  of  confidence 
in  Him.  That  is  the  foundation,  and  on  that  we  may 
build  everything  besides. 

Let  us  see  what  this  man  further  built  upon  it.  The 
second  story,  if  I  may  so  say,  of  the  temple-fortress  of 
his  life,  upon  the  foundation  of  faith,  was, '  He  clave  to 
the  Lord.' 


vs.  5.6]    A  PATTERN  OF  DEVOUT  LIFE      49 

That  is  to  say,  the  act  of  confidence  must  be  followed 
and  perfected  by  tenacious  adherence  with  all  the 
tendrils  of  a  man's  nature  to  the  God  in  whom  he  says 
that  he  trusts.  The  metaphor  is  a  very  forcible  one,  so 
familiar  in  Scripture  as  that  we  are  apt  to  overlook  its 
emphasis.  Let  me  recall  one  or  two  of  the  instances  in 
which  it  is  employed  about  other  matters  which  throw 
light  on  its  force  here. 

First  of  all,  remember  that  sweet  picture  of  the 
widow  woman  from  Moab  and  the  two  daughters-in- 
law,  one  sent  back,  not  reluctantly,  to  her  home ;  and 
the  other  persisting  in  keeping  by  Naomi's  side,  in  spite 
of  diflficulties  and  remonstrances.  With  kisses  of  real 
love  Orpah  went  back,  but  she  did  go  back,  to  her 
people  and  her  gods,  but  '  Ruth  clave  unto  her.'  So 
should  we  cling  to  God,  as  Ruth  flung  her  arms  round 
Naomi,  and  twined  her  else  lonely  and  desolate  heart 
about  her  dear  and  only  friend,  for  whose  sweet  sake 
she  became  a  willing  exile  from  kindred  and  country. 
Is  that  how  we  cleave  to  the  Lord  ? 

More  sacred  still  are  the  lessons  that  are  suggested 
by  the  fact  that  this  is  the  word  employed  to  describe 
the  blessed  and  holy  union  of  man  and  woman  in  pure 
wedded  life,  and  I  suppose  some  allusion  to  that  use 
of  the  expression  underlies  its  constant  application  to 
the  relation  of  the  believing  soul  to  Jehovah.  For  by 
trust  the  soul  is  wedded  to  Him,  and  so  '  joined  to  the 
Lord '  as  to  be  '  one  spirit.' 

Or  if  we  do  not  care  to  go  so  deep  as  that,  let  us  take 
the  metaphor  that  lies  in  the  word  itself,  without  re- 
ference to  its  Scriptural  applications.  As  the  limpet 
holds  on  to  its  rock,  as  the  ivy  clings  to  the  wall,  as  a 
shipwrecked  sailor  grasps  the  spar  which  keeps  his 
head  above  water,  so  a  Christian  man  ought  to  hold  on 

D 


50         SECOND  BOOK  OF  KINGS    [cH.xvin. 

to  God,  with  all  his  energy,  and  with  all  parts  of  his 
nature.  The  metaphor  implies  tenacity;  closeness  of 
adhesion,  in  heart  and  will,  in  thought,  in  desire,  and  in 
all  the  parts  of  our  receptive  humanity,  all  of  which 
can  touch  God  and  be  touched  by  Him,  and  all  of  which 
are  blessed  only  in  the  measure  in  which,  yielding  to 
Him,  they  are  filled  and  steadied  and  glorified. 

And  there  is  implied,  too,  not  only  tenacity  of  ad- 
herence, but  tenacity  in  the  face  of  obstacles.  There 
must  be  resistance  to  all  the  forces  which  would  detach, 
if  there  is  to  be  union  with  God  in  the  midst  of  life  in 
the  world.  Or,  to  recur  for  a  moment  to  the  figure  that 
I  employed  a  moment  ago,  as  the  sailor  clings  to  a  spar, 
though  the  waves  dash  round  him,  and  his  fingers  get 
stiffened  with  cold  and  cramped  with  keeping  the  one 
position,  and  can  scarcely  hold  on,  but  he  knows  that  it 
is  life  to  cling  and  death  to  loosen,  and  so  tightens  his 
grasp ;  thus  have  we  to  lay  hold  of  God,  and  in  spite  of 
all  obstacles,  to  keep  hold  of  Him.  Our  grasp  tends  to 
slacken,  and  is  feeble  at  the  best,  even  if  there  were 
nothing  outside  of  us  to  make  it  difficult  for  us  to  get  a 
good  grip.  But  there  are  howling  winds  and  battering 
waves  blowing  and  beating  on  us,  and  making  it  hard 
to  keep  our  hold. 

Do  not  let  us  yield  to  these,  but  in  spite  of  them  all 
let  our  hearts  tighten  round  Him,  for  it  is  only  in  His 
sweet,  eternal,  perfect  love  that  they  can  be  at  rest. 
And  let  our  thoughts  keep  close  to  Him  in  spite  of  all 
distractions,  for  it  is  only  in  the  measure  in  which  His 
light  fills  our  minds  and  His  truth  occupies  our  thoughts 
that  our  thinking  spirits  will  be  at  rest.  And  let  our 
desires,  as  the  tentacles  of  some  shell-fish  fasten  upon 
the  rock,  and  feel  out  towards  the  ocean  that  is 
coming  to  it,  let  our  desires  go  all  out  towards  Him 


Ts.  5,6]   A  PATTERN  OF  DEVOUT  LIFE      51 

until  they  touch  that  after  which  they  feel,  and  curl 
round  it  in  repose  and  in  blessedness. 

The  whole  secret  of  a  joyful,  strong,  noble  Christian 
life  lies  here — that  on  the  foundation  of  faith  we  should 
rear  tenacious  adherence  to  Him  in  spite  of  all 
obstacles.  So  it  was  a  most  encyclopaedic,  though 
laconic,  exhortation  that  that  •  good  man '  sent  down 
from  Jerusalem  to  encourage  the  first  heathen  con- 
verts gave,  when  instead  of  all  other  instruction 
or  advice,  or  inculcation  of  less  important,  and  yet 
real.  Christian  duties,  Barnabas  exhorted  them  all 
'that  with  purpose  of  heart'— the  full  devotion  of 
their  inmost  natures  —  *  they  should  cleave  to  the 
Lord.' 

Then  the  third  stage,  or  the  third  story,  in  this 
building  is  that,  cleaving  to  the  Lord,  'he  departed  not 
from  following  Him.'  The  metaphor  of  cleaving  im- 
plies proximity  and  union  ;  the  metaphor  of  following 
implies  distance  which  is  being  diminished.  These  two 
are  incongruous,  and  the  very  incongruity  helps  to  give 
point  to  the  representation.  The  same  two  ideas  of 
union  and  yet  of  pursuit  are  brought  still  more  closely 
together  in  other  parts  of  Scripture.  For  instance, 
there  is  a  remarkable  saying  in  one  of  the  Psalms, 
translated  in  our  Bible — '  My  soul  followeth  hard  after 
Thee.  Thy  right  hand  upholdeth  me,'  where  the  ex- 
pression 'followeth  hard  after'  is  a  lame  attempt  at 
translating  the  perhaps  impossible-to-be-translated 
fullness  of  the  original,  which  reads  '  My  soul  cleaveth 
after  Thee.'  It  is  an  incongruous  combination  of  ideas, 
by  its  very  incongruity  and  paradoxical  form  suggest- 
ing a  profound  truth — viz.  that  in  all  the  conscious 
union  and  tenacious  adherence  to  God  which  makes 
the  Christian  life,  there  is  ever,  also,  a  sense  of  distance 


52         SECOND  BOOK  OF  KINGS     [ch.  xvin. 

which  kindles  aspiration  and  leads  to  the  effort  after 
continual  progress.  However  close  we  may  be  to  God, 
it  is  always  possible  to  press  closer.  However  full  may 
be  the  union,  it  may  always  be  made  fuller ;  and  the 
cleaving  spirit  will  always  be  longing  for  a  closer  con- 
tact and  a  more  blessed  sense  of  being  in  touch  with 
God. 

So,  as  we  climb,  new  heights  reveal  themselves,  and 
the  further  we  advance  in  the  Christian  life  the  more 
are  we  conscious  of  the  infinite  depths  that  yet  re- 
main to  be  traversed.  Hence  arises  one  great  element 
of  the  blessedness  of  being  a  Christian — namely,  that 
we  need  not  fear  ever  coming  to  the  end  of  the  growth 
in  holiness  and  the  increase  of  joy  and  power  that  are 
possible  to  us.  So  that  weariness,  and  the  sense  of 
having  reached  the  limits  that  are  possible  on  a  given 
path,  which  sooner  or  later  fall  upon  men  that  live  for 
anything  but  God,  can  never  be  ours  if  we  live  for 
Him.  But  the  oldest  and  most  experienced  will  have 
the  same  forward-looking  glances  of  hope  and  forward- 
directed  steps  of  strenuous  effort  as  the  youngest 
beginner  on  the  path ;  and  a  Paul  will  be  able  to  say 
when  he  is  '  Paul  the  aged,'  and  '  the  time  of  his  depart- 
ure is  at  hand,'  that  he  '  forgets  the  things  that  are 
behind,  and  reaches  forth  unto  the  things  that  are 
before,  while  he  presses  towards  the  mark.'  Let  us  be 
thankful  for  the  endless  progress  which  is  possible  to 
the  Christian,  and  let  us  see  to  it  that  we  are  never 
paralysed  into  supposing  that  *  to-morrow  must  be  as 
this  day,'  but  trust  the  infinite  resources  of  our  God, 
and  be  sure  that  we  growingly  make  our  own  the 
growing  gifts  which  He  bestows. 

And  so,  lastly,  the  fourth  element  in  this  analysis  of 
a  dttvout  life  is  'He  kept  the  commandments  of  the 


V8.5,G]   A  PATTERN  OF  DEVOUT  LIFE      53 

Lord.'  That  is  the  outcome  of  them  all.  Faith,  ad- 
hesion, aspiration,  and  progress,  all  vindicate  their 
value  and  reality  in  the  simple,  homely  vs^ay  of  practical 
obedience. 

Let  us  learn  two  things.  One  as  to  the  worthless- 
ness  of  all  these  others,  if  they  do  not  issue  in  this. 
Not  that  these  inward  emotions  are  ever  to  be  de- 
spised, but  that,  if  they  are  genuine  in  our  hearts, 
they  cannot  but  manifest  themselves  in  our  lives. 
And  so,  dear  Christian  friends !  do  you  not  build  upon 
your  faith,  on  your  adherence  to  God,  on  your  aspira- 
tions after  Him,  unless  you  can  bring  into  court,  as 
witnesses  for  these,  daily  and  hourly,  your  efforts  after 
the  conformity  of  your  will  to  His,  in  the  great  things 
and  in  the  small.  Then,  and  only  then,  may  we  be  sure 
that  our  confidence  is  not  a  delusion,  and  that  it  is  to 
Him  that  we  cleave  when  our  feet  tread  in  the  paths  of 
goodness. 

And  on  the  other  hand,  let  us  learn  that  all  attempts 
to  be  obedient  to  a  divine  will  which  do  not  begin  with 
trust  and  cleaving  to  Him  are  vain.  There  is  no  other 
way  to  get  that  conformity  of  will  except  by  that  union 
of  spirit.  All  other  attempts  are  beginning  at  the 
wrong  end.  You  do  not  begin  building  your  houses 
with  the  chimney-pots,  but  many  a  man  who  seeks 
to  obey  without  trusting  does  precisely  commit  that 
fault.  Let  us  be  sure  that  the  foundations  are  in,  and 
then  let  us  be  sure  that  we  do  not  stop  half-way  up, 
lest  all  that  pass  by  should  mock  and  say,  '  This  man 
began  to  build  and  was  not  able  to  finish.' 

How  many  professing  Christians'  lives  are  half- 
finished  and  unroofed  houses,  because  they  have  not 
'  added  to  their  faith ' — that  is,  to  their  '  cleaving  to  the 
Lord ' — endless  aspiration  and  continual  progress,  and 


54         SECOND  BOOK  OF  KINGS       [ch.xix. 

to  their  aspiration  and  their  progress  the  peaceable 
fruit  of  practical  righteousness !  If  these  things  be  in 
us  and  abound,  they  mark  us  as  devout  men  after  God's 
pattern.  And  if  we  want  to  be  devout  men  after  God's 
pattern,  we  must  follow  God's  sequence,  which  begins 
with  trust  and  ends  with  obedience. 


•HE  UTTERED  HIS  VOICE,  THE  EARTH 
MELTED' 

'Then  Isaiah  the  son  of  Amoz  sent  to  Hezekiah,  saying,  Thus  saith  the  Lord 
God  of  Israel,  That  which  thou  hast  prayed  to  Me  against  Sennacherib  king  of 
Assyria  I  have  heard.  21.  This  is  the  word  that  the  Lord  bath  spoken  concerning 
him  ;  The  virgin,  the  daughter  of  Zion,  hath  despised  thee,  and  laughed  thee  to 
scorn ;  the  daughter  of  Jerusalem  hath  shaken  her  head  at  thee.  22.  Whom  hast 
thou  reproached  and  blasphemed?  and  against  whom  hast  thou  exalted  thy  voice, 
and  lifted  up  thine  eyes  on  high  ?  even  against  the  Holy  One  of  Israel. ...  28.  Because 
thy  rage  against  Me  and  thy  tumult  is  come  up  into  Mine  ears,  therefore  I  will 
put  My  hook  in  thy  nose,  and  My  bridle  in  thy  lips,  and  I  will  turn  thee  back  by 
the  way  by  which  thou  camest.  29.  And  this  shall  be  a  sign  unto  thee.  Ye  shall  eat 
this  year  such  things  as  grow  of  themselves,  and  in  the  second  year  that  which 
springeth  of  the  same ;  and  in  the  third  year  sow  ye,  and  reap,  and  plant  vine- 
yards, and  eat  the  fruits  thereof.  30.  And  the  remnant  that  is  escaped  of  the  house 
of  Judah  shall  yet  again  take  root  downward,  and  bear  fruit  u  p  ward.  31.  For  out  of 
Jerusalem  shall  go  forth  a  remnant,  and  they  that  escape  out  of  mount  Zion :  the 
seal  of  the  Lord  of  hosts  shall  do  this.  32.  Therefore  thus  saith  the  Lord  concerning 
the  king  of  Assyria,  He  shall  not  come  into  this  city,  nor  shoot  an  arrow  there,  nor 
oome  before  it  with  shield,  nor  cast  a  bank  against  it.  33.  By  the  way  that  he  came, 
by  the  same  shall  he  return,  and  shall  not  come  into  this  city,  saith  the  Lord. 
34.  For  I  will  defend  this  city,  to  save  it,  for  Mine  own  sake,  and  for  My  servant 
David's  sake.  35.  And  it  came  to  pass  that  night,  that  the  angel  of  the  Lord  went  out, 
and  smote  in  the  camp  of  the  Assyrians  an  hundred  fourscore  and  five  thousand : 
and  when  they  arose  early  in  the  morning,  behold,  they  were  all  dead  corpses. 
36.  So  Sennacherib  king  of  Assyria  departed,  and  went  and  returned,  and  dwelt  at 
Nineveh.  37.  And  it  came  to  pass,  as  he  was  worshipping  in  the  house  of  Nisroeh 
his  god,  that  Adrammelech  and  Sharezer  his  sons  smote  him  with  the  sword  ;  and 
they  escaped  into  the  land  of  Armenia :  and  Esarhaddon  his  son  reigned  in  hia 
Bt«ad.'— 2  KiNes  ziz.  20-22 ;  28-37. 

At  an  earlier  stage  of  the  Assyrian  invasion  Hezekiah 
had  sent  to  Isaiah,  asking  him  to  pray  to  his  God  for 
deliverance,  and  had  received  an  explicit  assurance  that 
the  invasion  would  be  foiled.  When  the  second  stage 
was  reached,  and  Hezekiah  was  personally  summoned 
to  surrender,  by  a  letter  which  scofPed  at  Isaiah's  pro< 


vs.  20-22;  28-37]  *HE  UTTERED  HIS  VOICE'  55 

mise,  he  himself  prayed  before  the  Lord.  Isaiah  does 
not  seem  to  have  been  present,  and  may  not  have 
known  of  the  prayer.  At  all  events,  the  answer  was 
given  to  him  to  give  to  the  king;  and  it  is  noteworthy 
that,  as  in  the  former  case,  he  does  not  himself  come, 
but  sends  to  Hezekiah.  He  did  come  when  he  had  to 
bring  a  message  of  death,  and  again  when  he  had  to 
rebuke  (chap,  xx.),  but  now  he  only  sends.  As  the 
chosen  speaker  of  Jehovah's  will,  he  was  mightier  than 
kings,  and  must  not  imperil  the  dignity  of  the  message 
by  the  behaviour  of  the  messenger.  In  a  sentence, 
Hezekiah's  prayer  is  answered,  and  then  the  prophet, 
in  Jehovah's  name,  bursts  into  a  wonderful  song  of 
triumph  over  the  defeated  invader.  '  I  have  heard.' 
That  is  enough.  Hezekiah's  prayer  has,  as  it  were,  fired 
the  fuse  or  pulled  the  trigger,  and  the  explosion  follows, 
and  the  shot  is  sped.  '  Whereas  thou  hast  prayed, .  . . 
I  have  heard,'  is  ever  true,  and  God's  hearing  is  God's 
acting  in  answer.  The  methods  of  His  response  vary, 
the  fact  that  He  responds  to  the  cry  of  despair  driven 
to  faith  by  extremity  of  need  does  not  vary. 

But  it  is  noteworthy  that,  with  that  brief,  sufficient 
assurance,  Hezekiah,  as  it  were,  is  put  aside,  and  in- 
stead of  three  fighters  in  the  field,  the  king,  with  God 
to  back  him,  and  on  the  other  side  Sennacherib,  two 
only,  appear.  It  is  a  duel  between  Jehovah  and  the 
arrogant  heathen  who  had  despised  Him.  Jerusalem 
appears  for  a  moment,  in  a  magnificent  piece  of  poetical 
scorn,  as  despising  and  making  gestures  of  contempt  at 
the  baffled  would-be  conqueror,  as  Miriam  and  her 
maidens  did  by  the  Red  Sea.  The  city  is  '  virgin,'  as 
many  a  fortress  in  other  lands  has  been  named,  be- 
cause uncaptured.  But  she,  too,  passes  out  of  sight, 
and  Jehovah  and  Sennacherib  stand  opposed  on  the 


56  SECOND  BOOK  OF  KINGS    [ch.  xix. 

field.  God  speaks  now  not  '  concerning,'  but  to,  him, 
and  indicts  him  for  insane  pride,  which  was  really  a 
denial  of  dependence  on  God,  and  passionate  antagonism 
to  Him,  as  manifested  not  only  in  his  war  against 
Jehovah's  people,  but  also  in  the  tone  of  his  insolent 
defiances  of  Hezekiah,  in  which  he  scoffed  at  the  vain 
trust  which  the  latter  was  placing  in  his  God,  and 
paralleled  Jehovah  with  the  gods  of  the  nations  whom 
he  had  already  conquered  (Isaiah  xix.  12). 

The  designation  of  God,  characteristic  of  Isaiah,  as 
*  the  Holy  One  of  Israel,'  expresses  at  once  His  elevation 
above,  and  separation  from,  all  mundane,  creatural 
limitations,  and  His  special  relation  to  His  people,  and 
both  thoughts  intensify  Sennacherib's  sin.  The  Highest, 
before  whose  transcendent  height  all  human  elevations 
sink  to  a  uniform  level,  has  so  joined  Israel  to  Himself 
that  to  touch  it  is  to  strike  at  Him,  and  to  vaunt  one's 
self  against  it  is  to  be  arrogant  towards  God.  That 
mighty  name  has  received  wider  extension  now,  but 
the  wider  sweep  does  not  bring  diminished  depth,  and 
lowly  souls  who  take  that  name  for  their  strong  tower 
can  still  run  into  it  and  be  safe  from  '  the  oppressor's 
wrong,  the  proud  man's  contumely,'  and  the  strongest 
foes. 

There  is  tremendous  scorn  in  the  threat  with  which 
the  divine  address  to  Sennacherib  ends.  The  dreaded 
world-conqueror  is  no  more  in  God's  eyes  than  a  wild 
beast,  which  He  can  ring  and  lead  as  He  will,  and  not 
even  as  formidable  as  that,  but  like  a  horse  or  a  mule, 
that  can  easily  be  bridled  and  directed.  What  majestic 
assertion  lies  in  these  figures  and  in  '  My  hook '  and  '  My 
bridle ! '  How  many  conquerors  and  mighty  men  since 
then  have  been  so  mastered,  and  their  schemes  balked ! 
Sennacherib  had  to  return  by  '  the  way  that  he  came,' 


vs. 20-22;  28-37]  'HE  UTTERED  HIS  VOICE'  57 

and  to  tramp  back,  foiled  and  disappointed,  over  all  tlie 
weary  miles  which  he  had  trodden  before  with  such 
insolent  confidence  of  victory.  A  modern  parallel  is 
Napoleon's  retreat  from  Moscow.  But  the  same  ex- 
perience really  befalls  all  who  order  life  regardless  of 
God.  Their  schemes  may  seem  to  succeed,  but  in  deepest 
truth  they  fail,  and  the  schemers  never  reach  their 
goal. 

In  verse  29  the  prophet  turns  away  abruptly  and 
almost  contemptuously  from  Sennacherib  to  speak 
comfortably  to  Jerusalem,  addressing  Hezekiah  first, 
but  turning  immediately  to  the  people.  The  substance 
of  his  words  to  them  is,  first,  the  assurance  that  the 
Assyrian  invasion  had  limits  of  time  set  to  it  by  God ; 
and,  second,  that  beyond  it  lay  prosperous  times,  when 
the  prophetic  visions  of  a  flourishing  Israel  should  be 
realised  in  fact.  For  two  seed-times  only  field  work 
was  to  be  impossible  on  account  of  the  Assyrian  occupa- 
tion, but  it  was  to  foam  itself  away,  like  a  winter 
torrent,  before  a  third  season  for  sowing  came  round. 

But  how  could  this  sequence  of  events,  which  required 
time  for  its  unfolding,  be  '  a  sign '  ?  We  must  somewhat 
modify  our  notions  of  a  sign  to  understand  the  prophet. 
The  Scripture  usage  does  not  only  designate  by  that 
name  a  present  event  or  thing  which  guarantees  the 
truth  of  a  prophecy,  but  it  sometimes  means  an  event, 
or  sequence  of  events,  in  the  future,  which,  when  they 
have  come  to  pass  in  accordance  with  the  divine  pre- 
diction of  them,  will  shed  back  light  on  other  divine 
words  or  acts,  and  demonstrate  that  they  were  of  God. 
Thus  Moses  was  given  as  a  sign  of  his  mission  the  wor- 
shipping in  Mount  Sinai,  which  was  to  take  place  only 
after  the  Exodus.  So  with  Isaiah's  sign  here.  When 
the  harvest  of  the  third  year  was  gathered  in,  then 


58  SECOND  BOOK  OF  KINGS     [ch.xix. 

Israel  would  know  that  the  prophet  had  spoken  from 
God  when  he  had  sung  Sennacherib's  defeat.  For  the 
present,  Hezekiah  and  Judah  had  to  live  by  faith ;  but 
when  the  deliverance  was  complete,  and  they  were  en- 
joying the  fruits  of  their  labours  and  of  God's  salvation, 
then  they  could  look  back  on  the  weary  years,  and 
recognise  more  clearly  than  while  these  were  slowly 
passing  how  God  had  been  in  all  the  trouble,  and  had 
been  carrying  on  His  purposes  of  mercy  through  it 
all.  And  there  will  be  a  *  sign '  for  us  in  like  manner 
when  we  look  back  from  eternity  on  the  transitory 
conflicts  of  earthly  life,  and  are  satisfied  with  the 
harvest  which  He  has  caused  to  spring  from  our  poor 
sowings  to  the  Spirit. 

The  definite  promise  of  deliverance  in  verses  32-34  is 
addressed  to  Judah,  and  emphasises  the  completeness 
of  the  frustration  of  the  invader's  efforts.  There  is  a 
climax  in  the  enumeration  of  the  things  that  he  will 
not  be  allowed  to  do — he  will  not  make  his  entry  into 
the  city,  nor  even  shoot  an  arrow  there,  nor  even  make 
preparation  for  a  siege.  His  whole  design  will  be  over- 
turned, and  as  had  already  been  said  (ver.  28),  he  will 
retrace  his  steps  a  bafiied  man. 

Note  the  strong  antithesis :  *  He  shall  not  come  into 
this  city,  .  .  .  for  I  will  defend  this  city.'  Zion  is  im- 
pregnable because  Jehovah  defends  it.  Sennacherib 
can  do  nothing,  for  he  is  fighting  against  God.  And  if 
we  *  are  come  unto  the  city  of  the  living  God,'  we  can 
take  the  same  promise  for  the  strength  of  our  lives. 
God  saves  Zion  '  for  His  own  sake,'  for  His  name  is  con- 
cerned in  its  security,  both  because  He  has  taken  it  for 
His  own  and  because  He  has  pledged  His  word  to  guard 
it.  It  would  be  a  blot  on  His  faithfulness,  a  slur  on  His 
power,  if  it  should  be  conquered  while  it  remains  true 


vs.  20-22;  28-37]  ^HE  UTTERED  HIS  VOICE'  59 

to  Him,  its  King.  His  honour  is  involved  in  protecting 
us  if  we  enter  into  the  strong  city  of  which  the  builder 
and  maker  is  God.  And  'for  David's  sake,*  too,  He 
defends  Zion,  because  He  had  sworn  to  David  to  dwell 
there.  But  Zion's  security  becomes  an  illusion  if  Zion 
breaks  away  from  God.  If  it  becomes  as  Sodom,  it 
shares  Sodom's  fate. 

It  is  remarkable  that  neither  in  the  song  of  triumph 
nor  in  the  prophecy  of  deliverance  is  there  allusion  to 
the  destruction  of  the  Assyrian  army.  How  the  exultant 
taunts  of  the  one  and  the  definite  promises  of  the  other 
were  to  be  fulfilled  was  not  declared  till  the  event  de- 
clared it.  But  faithful  expectation  had  not  long  to 
wait,  for  *  that  night '  the  blow  fell,  and  no  second  was 
needed.  We  are  not  told  where  the  Assyrian  army 
was,  but  clearly  it  was  not  before  Jerusalem.  Nor  do 
we  learn  what  was  the  instrument  of  destruction 
wielded  by  the  *  angel  of  the  Lord,'  if  there  was  any. 
The  catastrophe  may  have  been  brought  about  by  a 
pestilence,  but  however  effected,  it  was  '  the  act  of  God,' 
the  fulfilment  of  His  promise,  the  making  bare  of  His 
arm.  'By  terrible  things  in  righteousness'  did  He 
answer  the  prayer  of  Hezekiah,  and  give  to  all  humble 
souls  who  are  oppressed  and  cry  to  Him  a  pledge  that 
•  as  they  have  heard,  so '  will  they  '  see,  in  the  city  of ' 
their  '  God.'  How  much  more  impressive  is  the  stern, 
naked  brevity  of  the  Scriptural  account  than  a  more 
emotional  expansion  of  it,  like,  for  instance,  Byron's 
well-known,  and  in  their  way  powerful  lines,  would 
have  been !  To  the  writer  of  this  book  it  seemed  the 
most  natural  thing  in  the  world  that  the  foes  of  Zion 
should  be  annihilated  by  one  blow  of  the  divine  hand. 
His  business  is  to  tell  the  facts ;  he  leaves  commentary 
and  wonder  and  triumph  or  terror  to  others. 


60  SECOND  BOOK  OF  KINGS     [ch.xxii. 

There  is  but  one  touch  of  patriotic  exultation  apparent 
in  the  half -sarcastic  and  half-rejoicing  accumulation  of 
synonyms  descriptive  of  Sennacherib's  retreat.  He 
'departed,  and  went  and  returned.'  It  is  like  the 
picture  in  Psalm  xlviii.,  which  probably  refers  to  the 
same  events :  '  They  saw  it,  and  so  they  marvelled ;  they 
were  troubled,  and  hasted  away.' 

About  twenty  years  elapsed  between  Sennacherib's 
retreat  and  his  assassination.  During  all  that  time  he 
'  dwelt  at  Nineveh,'  so  far  as  Judah  was  concerned. 
He  had  had  enough  of  attacking  it  and  its  God.  But 
the  notice  of  his  death  is  introduced  here,  not  only  to 
complete  the  narrative,  but  to  point  a  lesson,  which  is 
suggested  by  the  fact  that  he  was  murdered  '  as  he  was 
worshipping  in  the  house  of  Nisroch  his  god.'  Hezekiah 
had  gone  into  the  house  of  his  God  with  Sennacherib's 
letter,  and  the  dead  corpses  of  an  army  showed  what 
Jehovah  could  do  for  His  servant ;  Sennacherib  was 
praying  in  the  temple  of  his  god,  and  his  corpse  lay 
stretched  before  his  idol,  an  object  lesson  of  the  im- 
potence of  Nisroch  and  all  his  like  to  hear  or  help  their 
worshippers. 


THE  REDISCOVERED  LAW  AND  ITS  EFFECTS 

•  And  Hilkiah  the  high  priest  said  unto  Shaphan  the  scribe,  I  have  found  the 
book  of  the  law  in  the  house  of  the  Lord  :  and  Hilkiah  gave  the  book  to  Shaphan, 
and  he  read  it.  9.  And  Shaphan  the  scribe  came  to  the  king,  and  brought  the  king 
word  again,  and  said,  Thy  servants  have  gathered  the  money  that  was  found  in 
the  house,  and  have  delivered  it  into  the  hand  of  them  that  do  the  work,  that 
have  the  oversight  of  the  house  of  the  Ijord.  10.  And  Shaphan  the  scribe  shewed 
the  king,  saying,  Hilkiah  the  priest  hath  delivered  me  a  book :  and  Shaphan  read  it 
before  the  king.  11.  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  the  king  had  heard  the  words 
of  the  book  of  the  law,  that  he  rent  his  clothes.  12.  And  the  king  commanded 
Hilkiah  the  priest,  and  Ahikam  the  son  of  Shaphan,  and  Achbor  the  son  of 
Michaiah,  and  Shaphan  the  scribe,  and  Asahiah  a  servant  of  the  king's,  saying, 
13,  Go  ye,  enquire  of  the  Lord  for  me,  and  for  the  people,  and  for  all  Judah,  concern- 
ing the  words  of  this  book  that  is  found :  for  great  is  the  wrath  of  the  Lord  that  is 
kiudledagainstus,  because  our  fathers  have  not  hearkened  unto  the  words  of  this 


vs.  8-20]    THE  REDISCOVERED  LAW         61 

book,  to  do  according  unto  all  that  which  is  written  concerning  us.  14.  So  Hilkiah 
the  priest,  and  Ahikam,  and  Achbor,  and  Shaphan,  and  Asahiah,  went  unto 
Huldah  the  prophetess,  the  wife  of  Shallum  the  son  of  Tikvah,  the  son  of  Harhas, 
keeper  of  the  wardrobe ;  (now  she  dwelt  in  Jerusalem  in  the  college ;)  and  they 
communed  with  her.  15.  And  she  said  iinto  them.  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God  of  Israel, 
Tell  the  man  that  sent  you  to  me,  16.  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  Behold,  I  will  bring  evil 
upon  this  place,  and  upon  the  inhabitants  thereof,  even  all  the  words  of  the  book 
which  the  king  of  Judah  hath  read :  17.  Because  they  have  forsaken  Me,  and  have 
burnt  incense  unto  other  gods,  that  they  might  provoke  Me  to  anger  with  all  the 
works  of  their  hands ;  therefore  My  wrath  shall  be  kindled  against  this  place, 
and  shall  not  be  quenched.  18.  But  to  the  king  of  Judah,  which  sent  you  to  enquire 
of  the  Lord,  thus  shall  ye  say  to  him.  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God  of  Israel,  As 
touching  the  words  which  thou  hast  heard  ;  19.  Because  thine  heart  was  tender,  and 
thou  hast  humbled  thyself  before  the  Lord,  when  thou  heardest  what  I  speak 
against  this  place,  and  against  the  inhabitants  thereof,  that  they  should  become  a 
desolation  and  a  curse,  and  hast  rent  thy  clothes,  and  wept  before  Me ;  I  also  have 
heard  thee,  saith  the  Lord.  20.  Behold,  therefore,  I  will  gather  thee  unto  thy  fathers, 
and  thou  sbalt  be  gathered  into  thy  grave  in  peace  ;  and  thine  eyes  shall  not  see 
all  the  evil  which  I  will  bring  upon  this  place.  And  they  brought  the  king  word 
again,'— 2  Kings  xxii.  8-20. 

We  get  but  a  glimpse  into  a  wild  time  of  revolution 
and  counter-revolution  in  the  brief  notice  that  the 
'  servants  of  Amon,'  Josiah's  father,  conspired  and 
murdered  him  in  his  palace,  but  were  themselves  killed 
by  a  popular  rising,  in  which  the  •  people  of  the  land 
made  Josiah  his  son  king  in  his  stead,'  and  so  no  doubt 
balked  the  conspirators'  plans.  Poor  boy !  he  was 
only  eight  years  old  when  he  made  his  first  acquaint- 
ance with  rebellion  and  bloodshed.  There  must  have 
been  some  wise  heads  and  strong  arms  and  loyal  hearts 
round  him,  but  their  names  have  perished.  The  name 
of  David  was  still  a  spell  in  Judah,  and  guarded  his 
childish  descendant's  royal  rights.  In  the  eighteenth 
year  of  his  reign,  the  twenty-sixth  of  his  age,  he  felt 
himself  firm  enough  in  the  saddle  to  begin  a  work  of 
religious  reformation,  and  the  first  reward  of  his  zeal 
was  the  finding  of  the  book  of  the  law.  Josiah,  like 
the  rest  of  us,  gained  fuller  knowledge  of  God's  will 
in  the  act  of  trying  to  do  it  so  far  as  he  knew  it. 
*  Light  is  sown  for  the  upright.' 

I.  We    have,  first,   the  discovery  of  the   law.     The 
important  and  complicated  critical  questions  raised  by 


62  SECOND  BOOK  OF  KINGS    [ch.  xxii. 

the  narrative  cannot  be  discussed  here,  nor  do  they 
affect  the  broad  lines  of  teaching  in  the  incident. 
Nothing  is  more  truthful-like  than  the  statement  that, 
in  course  of  the  repairs  of  the  Temple,  the  book  should 
be  found, — probably  in  the  holiest  place,  to  which  the 
high  priest  would  have  exclusive  access.  How  it  came 
to  have  been  lost  is  a  more  puzzling  question ;  but  if 
we  recall  that  seventy-five  years  had  passed  since 
Hezekiah,  and  that  these  were  almost  entirely  years 
of  apostasy  and  of  tumult,  we  shall  not  wonder  that 
it  was  so.  Unvalued  things  easily  slip  out  of  sight, 
and  if  the  preservation  of  Scripture  depended  on  the 
estimation  which  some  of  us  have  of  it,  it  would  have 
been  lost  long  ago.  But  the  fact  of  the  loss  suggests 
the  wonder  of  the  preservation.  It  would  appear  that 
this  copy  was  the  only  one  existing, — at  all  events,  the 
only  one  known.  It  alone  transmitted  the  law  to  later 
days,  like  some  slender  thread  of  water  that  finds  its 
way  through  the  sand  and  brings  the  river  down  to 
broad  plains  beyond.  Think  of  the  millions  of  copies 
now,  and  the  one  dusty,  forgotten  roll  tossing  un- 
regarded in  the  dilapidated  Temple,  and  be  thankful 
for  the  Providence  that  has  watched  over  the  trans- 
mission. Let  us  take  care,  too,  that  the  whole  Scripture 
is  not  as  much  lost  to  us,  though  we  have  half  a  dozen 
Bibles  each,  as  the  roll  was  to  Josiah  and  his  men. 

Hilkiah's  announcement  to  Shaphan  has  a  ring  of 
wonder  and  of  awe  in  it.  It  sounds  as  if  he  had  not 
known  that  such  a  book  was  anywhere  in  the  Temple. 
And  it  is  noteworthy  that  not  he,  but  Shaphan,  is  said 
to  have  read  it.  Perhaps  he  could  not, — though,  if  he 
did  not,  how  did  he  know  what  the  book  was  ?  At  all 
events,  he  and  Shaphan  seem  to  have  felt  the  im- 
portance of  the  find,  and  to  have  consulted  what  was 


vs.  8-20]    THE  REDISCOVERED  LAW         63 

to  be  done.  Observe  how  the  latter  goes  cautiously  to 
work,  and  at  first  only  says  that  he  has  received 
•  a  book.'  He  gives  it  no  name,  but  leaves  it  to  tell  its 
own  story, — which  it  was  then,  and  is  still,  well  able  to 
do.  Scripture  is  its  own  best  credentials  and  witnesses 
whence  it  comes.  Again  Shaphan  is  the  reader,  as  it 
was  natural  that  a  '  scribe '  should  be,  and  again  the 
possibility  is  that  Josiah  could  not  read. 

II.  One  can  easily  picture  the  scene  while  the  reader's 
voice  went  steadily  through  the  commandments, 
threatenings,  and  promises, — the  deepening  eagerness 
of  the  king,  the  gradual  shaping  out  before  his 
conscience  of  God's  ideal  for  him  and  his  people,  and 
the  gradual  waking  of  the  sense  of  sin  in  him,  like  a 
dormant  serpent  beginning  to  stir  in  the  first  spring 
sunshine. 

The  effect  of  God's  law  on  the  sinful  heart  is  vividly 
pictured  in  Josiah's  emotion.  *By  the  law  is  the 
knowledge  of  sin.'  To  many  of  us  that  law,  in  spite  of 
our  outward  knowledge  of  it,  is  as  completely  absent 
from  our  consciousness  as  it  had  been  from  the  most 
ignorant  of  Josiah's  subjects ;  and  if  for  once  its 
searchlight  were  thrown  into  the  hidden  corners  of  our 
hearts  and  lives,  it  would  show  up  in  dreadful  clearness 
the  skulking  foes  that  are  stealing  to  assail  us,  and  the 
foul  things  that  have  made  good  their  lodgment  in  our 
hearts  and  lives.  It  always  makes  an  epoch  in  a  life 
when  it  is  really  brought  to  the  standard  of  God's  law ; 
and  it  is  well  for  us  if,  like  Josiah,  we  rend  our  clothes, 
or  rather  '  our  heart,  and  not  our  garments,'  and  take 
home  the  conviction,  '  I  have  sinned  against  the  Lord.' 

The  dread  of  punishment  sprang  up  in  the  young 
king's  heart,  and  though  that  emotion  is  not  the 
highest  motive  for  seeking  the  Lord,    it   is    not   an 


64  SECOND  BOOK  OF  KINGS     [ch.xxii. 

unworthy  one,  and  is  meant  to  lead  on  to  nobler  ones 
than  itself.  There  is  too  much  unwillingness,  in  many- 
modern  conceptions  of  Christ's  gospel,  to  recognise 
the  place  which  the  apprehension  of  personal  evil 
consequences  from  sin  has  in  the  initial  stages  of  the 
process  by  which  we  are  '  translated  from  the  kingdom 
of  darkness  into  that  of  God's  dear  Son.' 

III.  The  message  to  Huldah  is  remarkable.  The 
persons  sent  with  it  show  its  importance.  The  high 
priest,  the  royal  secretary,  and  one  of  the  king's 
personal  attendants,  who  was,  no  doubt,  in  his 
confidence,  and  two  other  influential  men,  one  of  whom, 
Ahikam,  is  known  as  Jeremiah's  staunch  friend,  would 
make  some  stir  in  •  the  second  quarter,'  on  their  way 
to  the  modest  house  of  the  keeper  of  the  wardrobe. 
The  weight  and  number  of  the  deputation  did  honour 
to  the  prophetess,  as  well  as  showed  the  king's  anxiety 
as  to  the  matter  in  hand.  Jeremiah  and  Zephaniah 
were  both  living  at  this  time,  and  we  do  not  know 
why  Huldah  was  preferred.  Perhaps  she  was  more 
accessible.  But  conjecture  is  idle.  Enough  that  she 
was  recognised  as  having,  and  declared  herself  to  have, 
direct  authoritative  communications  from  God. 

For  what  did  Josiah  need  to  inquire  of  the  Lord 
*  concerning  the  words  of  this  book '  ?  They  were  plain 
enough.  Did  he  hope  to  have  their  sternness  somewhat 
mollified  by  the  words  of  a  prophetess  who  might  be 
more  amenable  to  entreaties  or  personal  considerations 
than  the  unalterable  page  was?  Evidently  he 
recognised  Huldah  as  speaking  with  divine  authority, 
and  he  might  have  known  that  two  depositories  of 
God's  voice  could  not  contradict  each  other.  But 
possibly  his  embassy  simply  reflected  his  extreme 
perturbation  and  alaim,  and  like   many  another  man 


vs.  8-20]   THE  REDISCOVERED  LAW  65 

when  God's  law  startles  him  into  consciousness  of  sin, 
he  betook  himself  to  one  who  was  supposed  to  be  in 
God's  counsels,  half  hoping  for  a  mitigated  sentence, 
and  half  uncertain  of  what  he  really  wished.  He 
confusedly  groped  for  some  support  or  guide.  But, 
confused  as  he  was,  his  message  to  the  prophetess 
implied  repentance,  eager  desire  to  know  what  to  do, 
and  humble  docility.  If  dread  of  evil  consequences 
leads  us  to  such  a  temper,  we  shall  hear,  as  Josiali  did, 
answers  of  peace  as  authoritative  and  divine  as  were 
the  threatenings  that  brought  us  to  our  senses  and 
our  knees. 

IV.  The  answer  which  Josiah  received  falls  into  two 
parts,  the  former  of  which  confirms  the  threatenings 
of  evil  to  Jerusalem,  while  the  latter  casts  a  gleam 
athwart  the  thundercloud,  and  promises  Josiah  escape 
from  the  national  calamities.  Observe  the  difference 
in  the  designation  given  him  in  the  two  parts.  When 
the  threatenings  are  confirmed,  his  individuality  is,  as 
it  were,  sunk ;  for  that  part  of  the  message  applies  to 
any  and  every  member  of  the  nation,  and  therefore  he 
is  simply  called  '  the  man  that  sent  you.'  Any  other 
man  would  have  received  the  same  answer.  But  when 
his  own  fate  is  to  be  disclosed,  then  he  is  '  the  king  of 
Judah,  who  sent  you,'  and  is  described  by  the  official 
position  which  set  him  apart  from  his  subjects. 

Huldah  has  but  to  confirm  the  dread  predictions  of 
evil  which  the  roll  had  contained.  What  else  can  a 
faithful  messenger  of  God  do  than  reiterate  its 
threatenings?  Vainly  do  men  seek  to  induce  the 
living  prophet  to  soften  down  God's  own  warnings. 
Foolishly  do  they  think  that  the  messenger  or  the 
messenger's  Sender  has  any  '  pleasure  in  the  death  of 
the  wicked ' ;  and  as  foolishly  do  they  take  the  message 

E 


66  SECOND  BOOK  OF  KINGS  [ch.  xxv. 

to  be  unkind,  for  surely  to  warn  that  destruction  waits 
the  evildoer  is  gracious.  The  signal-man  who  waves 
the  red  flag  to  stop  the  train  rushing  to  ruin  is  a  friend. 
Huldah  was  serving  Judah  best  by  plain  reiteration  of 
the  '  words  of  the  book.' 

But  the  second  half  of  her  message  told  that  in  wrath 
God  remembered  mercy.  And  that  is  for  ever  true.  His 
thunderbolts  do  not  strike  indiscriminately,  even  when 
they  smite  a  nation.  Judah's  corruption  had  gone  too 
far  for  recovery,  and  the  carcase  called  for  the  gather- 
ing together  of  the  vultures,  but  Josiah's  penitence 
was  not  in  vain.  '  I  have  heard  thee '  is  always  said  to 
the  true  penitent,  and  even  if  he  is  involved  in  wide- 
spread retribution,  its  strokes  become  different  to  him. 
Josiah  was  assured  that  the  evil  should  not  come  in 
his  days.  But  Huldah's  promise  seems  contradicted  by 
the  circumstances  of  his  death.  It  was  a  strange  kind 
of  being  gathered  to  his  grave  in  peace  when  he  fell  on 
the  fatal  field  of  Megiddo,  and  '  his  servants  carried 
him  in  a  chariot  dead,  .  .  .  and  buried  him  in  his  own 
sepulchre'  (2  Kings  xxiii.  30).  But  the  promise  is 
fulfilled  in  its  real  meaning  by  the  fact  that  the 
threatenings  which  he  was  inquiring  about  did  not 
fall  on  Judah  in  his  time,  and  so  far  as  these  were 
concerned,  he  did  come  to  his  grave  in  peace. 


THE  END 

'And  it  oame  to  pass  in  the  ninth  year  of  his  reign,  in  the  tenth  month,  in 
the  tenth  day  of  the  month,  that  Nebuchadnezzar  king  of  Babylon  came,  he,  and 
&11  his  host,  against  Jerusalem,  and  pitched  against  it ;  and  they  built  forts  against 
it  round  about.  2.  And  the  city  was  besieged  unto  the  eleventh  year  of  king 
Zedekiah,  3.  And  on  the  ninth  day  of  the  fourth  month  the  famine  prevailed  in  the 
city,  and  there  was  no  bread  for  the  people  of  the  land.  4.  And  the  city  was  broken 
np,  and  all  the  men  of  war  fled  by  night  by  the  way  of  the  gate,  between  two  walls, 
which  is  by  the  king's  garden ;  (now  the  Chaldees  were  against  the  city  round 
about;)  ar.d  the  king  went  the  way  toward  the  plain.  5.  And  the  army  of  the 
Chaldees  puioued  after  the  king,  and  overtook  him  in  the  plains  of  Jericho:  and 


vi.1-12]  THE  END  67 

all  his  army  were  scattered  from  him.  6.  So  they  took  the  king,  and  brought  him 
up  to  the  king  of  Babylon  to  Riblah  ;  and  they  gave  judgment  upon  him.  7.  And 
they  slew  the  sons  of  Zedekiah  before  his  eyes,  and  put  out  the  eyes  of  Zedekiah, 
and  bound  him  with  fetters  of  brass,  and  carried  him  to  Babylon.  8.  And  in  the 
fifth  month,  on  the  serenth  day  of  the  month,  which  is  the  nineteenth  year  of  king 
Nebuchadnezzar  king  of  Babylon,  came  Nebuzar-adan,  captain  of  the  guard, 
a  servant  of  the  king  of  Babylon,  unto  Jerusalem  :  9.  And  he  burnt  the  house  of 
the  Lord,  and  the  king's  house,  and  all  the  houses  of  Jerusalem,  and  every  great 
man's  house  burnt  he  with  fire.  10.  And  all  the  army  of  the  Chaldees,  that  were 
with  the  captain  of  the  guard,  brake  down  the  walls  of  Jerusalem  round  about. 
11.  Now  the  rest  of  the  people  that  were  left  in  the  city,  and  the  fugitives  that  fell 
away  to  the  king  of  Babylon,  with  the  remnant  of  the  multitude,  did  Nebuzar-adan, 
the  captain  of  the  guard,  carry  away.  12.  But  the  captain  of  the  guard  left  of 
the  poor  of  the  land  to  be  vine-dressers  and  husbandmen.'— 2  Kings  xxv.  1-12. 

Eighteen  months  of  long-drawn-out  misery  and  daily 
increasing  famine  preceded  the  fall  of  the  doomed 
city.  The  siege  was  a  blockade.  No  assaults  by  the 
enemy,  nor  sorties  by  the  inhabitants,  are  narrated, 
but  the  former  grimly  and  watchfully  drew  their  net 
closer,  and  the  latter  sat  still  in  their  despair.  The 
passionless  tone  of  the  narrative  here  is  very  remark- 
able. Not  a  word  escapes  the  writer  to  show  his 
feelings,  though  he  is  telling  his  country's  fall.  We 
must  turn  to  Lamentations  for  sighs  and  groans. 
There  we  have  the  emotions  of  devout  hearts;  here 
we  have  the  calm  record  of  God's  judgment.  It  is  all 
one  long  sentence,  for  in  the  Hebrew  each  verse  begins 
with  '  and,'  clause  heaped  on  clause,  as  if  each  were 
a  footstep  of  the  destroying  angel  in  his  slow,  irresist- 
ible march. 

The  narrative  falls  into  two  principal  parts — the 
fate  of  the  king  and  that  of  the  city.  It  is  unnecessary 
to  dwell  on  the  details.  The  confusion  of  counsels,  the 
party  strife,  the  fierce  hatred  of  God's  prophet,  the 
agony  of  famine,  are  all  suppressed  here,  but  painted 
with  terrible  vividness  in  the  Book  of  Jeremiah.  At 
last  the  fatal  day  came.  On  the  north  side  a  breach 
was  made  in  the  wall,  and  through  it  the  fierce  be- 
siegers poured — the  'princes  of  the  king  of  Babylon,' 
with  their  idolatrous  and  barbarous  names,  *  came  in, 


68  SECOND  BOOK  OF  KINGS   [ch.xxv. 

and  sat  in  the  middle  gate.'  It  was  niglit.  The  sudden 
appearance  of  the  conquerors  in  the  heart  of  the  city 
shot  panic  into  the  feeble  king  and  his  '  men  of  war ' 
who  had  never  struck  one  blow  for  deliverance ;  and 
they  hurried  under  cover  of  darkness,  and  hidden 
between  two  walls,  down  the  ravine  to  the  king's 
garden,  once  the  scene  of  pleasure,  but  waste  now,  and 
thence,  as  best  they  could,  round  or  over  Olivet  to  the 
road  to  Jericho.  The  king's  flight  by  night  had  been 
foretold  by  Ezekiel  far  away  in  captivity  (Ezek.  xii.  12) ; 
and  the  same  prophet  received  on  that  very  day  a 
divine  message  announcing  the  fall  of  the  city,  and 
bidding  him  '  write  thee  the  name  of  the  day,  even  of 
this  selfsame  day,'  as  that  on  which  the  king  of  Babylon 
'  drew  close  unto  Jerusalem  '  (Ezek.  xxiv.  1  et  seq.). 

Down  the  rocky  road  went  the  flying  host,  with 
'  their  shaftless,  broken  bows,'  closely  followed  by  the 
avenging  foe  with  '  red  pursuing  spear.'  Where  Israel 
had  first  set  foot  on  its  inheritance,  the  last  king  of 
David's  line  was  captured  and  his  monarchy  shattered. 
The  scene  of  the  first  victory,  when  Jericho  fell  before 
unarmed  men  trusting  in  God,  was  the  scene  of  the 
last  defeat.  The  spot  where  the  covenant  was  renewed, 
and  the  reproach  of  Israel  rolled  away,  was  the  spot 
where  the  broken  covenant  was  finally  avenged  and 
abrogated.  The  end  came  back  to  the  beginning,  and 
the  cradle  was  the  coffin. 

Away  up  to  Riblah,  in  the  far  north,  under  the  shadow 
of  Lebanon,  the  captive  was  dragged  to  meet  the  con- 
queror. The  name  of  each  is  a  profession  of  belief. 
The  one  means  'Jehovah  is  righteousness ';  the  other, 
'  Nebo,  protect  the  crown.'  The  idol  seemed  to  have 
overcome,  but  the  defeat  of  the  unbelieving  confessor 
of  the  true  God  at  the  hands  of  the  idolater  is  really 


vs.  1-12]  THE  END  69 

the  victory  of  the  righteousness  which  the  name  cele- 
brated and  the  bearer  of  the  name  insulted.  His 
murdered  sons  were  the  last  sight  which  he  saw  before 
he  was  blinded,  according  to  the  ferocious  practice  of 
the  East.  It  was  ingenuity  of  cruelty  to  let  him  see 
for  so  long,  and  then  to  give  him  that  as  the  last  thing 
seen,  and  therefore  often  remembered.  Note  how  the 
enigma  of  Ezekiel's  prophecy  (Ezek.  xii.  13)  and  its 
apparent  contradiction  of  Jeremiah's  (Jer.  xxxii.  4; 
xxxiv.  3)  are  reconciled,  and  learn  how  easily  the  fact, 
when  it  comes,  clears  the  riddles  of  prophecy,  and 
how  easily,  probably,  the  whole  facts,  if  we  knew  them, 
would  clear  the  diflSculties  of  Scripture  history.  The 
blinded  king  was  harmless,  but  according  to  Jewish 
tradition,  was  set  to  work  in  a  mill  (though  that  is 
probably  only  an  application  of  Samson's  story),  and 
according  to  Jeremiah  (Jer.  Hi.  11),  was  kept  in  prison 
till  his  death.     So  ended  the  monarchy  of  Judah. 

The  fate  of  the  city  was  not  settled  for  a  month, 
during  which,  no  doubt,  there  was  much  consultation 
at  Riblah  whether  to  garrison  or  destroy  it.  The  king 
of  Babylon  did  not  go  in  person,  but  despatched  a 
force  commanded  by  a  high  officer,  to  burn  palace, 
Temple,  the  more  important  houses  (the  poorer  people 
would  probably  be  lodged  in  huts  not  worth  burning), 
and  to  raze  the  fortifications.  In  accordance  with  the 
practice  of  the  great  Eastern  despotisms,  deportation 
followed  victory — a  clever  though  cruel  device  for 
securing  conquests.  But  some  were  left  behind ;  for 
the  land,  if  deserted,  would  have  fallen  out  of  cultiva- 
tion, and  been  profitless  to  Babylon.  The  bulk  of  the 
people  of  Jerusalem,  the  fugitives  who  had  joined  the 
invaders  during  the  siege,  and  the  mass  of  the  general 
population,  were  carried  off,  in  such  a  long  string  of 


70  SECOND  BOOK  OF  KINGS  [ch.xxv. 

misery  as  we  may  still  see  on  the  monuments,  and  a 
handful  left  behind,  too  poor  to  plot,  and  stirred  to 
diligence  by  necessity.  So  ended  the  possession  by 
Israel  of  its  promised  inheritance. 

Now  this  fall  of  Jerusalem  is  like  an  object-lesson  to 
teach  everlasting  truth  as  to  the  retributive  providence 
of  God.    What  does  it  say  ? 

It  declares  plainly  what  brings  down  God's  judg- 
ments. The  terms  on  which  Israel  prospered  and  held 
its  land  were  obedience  to  God's  law.  We  cannot 
directly  apply  the  principles  of  God's  government  of 
it  to  modern  nations.  The  present  analogue  of 
Israel  is  the  Church,  not  the  nation.  But  when  all 
deductions  have  been  made,  it  is  still  true  that  a 
nation's  religious  attitude  is  a  most  potent  factor  in 
its  prosperous  development.  It  is  not  accidental  that, 
on  the  whole,  stagnant  Europe  and  America  are  Roman 
Catholic,  and  the  progressive  parts  Protestant.  Nor 
was  it  causes  independent  of  religion  that  scattered 
a  decaying  Christianity  in  the  lands  of  the  Eastern 
Church  before  the  onslaught  of  wild  Arabs,  who,  at 
all  events,  did  believe  in  Allah.  So  there  are  abund- 
ant lessons  for  politics  and  sociology  ir  the  story  of 
Jerusalem's  fall. 

But  these  lessons  have  direct  application  to  the  indi- 
vidual and  to  the  Christian  Church.  All  departure 
from  God  is  ruin.  We  slay  ourselves  by  forsaking 
Him,  and  every  sinner  is  a  suicide.  We  live  under  a 
moral  government,  and  in  a  system  of  things  so  knit 
together  as  that  even  here  every  transgression  receives 
its  just  recompense — if  not  visibly  and  palpably  in  out- 
ward circumstances,  yet  really  and  punctually  in  effects 
on  mind  and  heart,  which  are  more  solemn  and  awful. 
•Behold  the  righteous  shall  be  recompensed  in  the 


vs.  1-12]  THE  END  71 

earth:  much  more  the  wicked  and  the  sinner.'  Sin 
and  sorrow  are  root  and  fruit. 

Especially  does  that  crash  of  Jerusalem's  fall  thunder 
the  lesson  to  all  churches  that  their  life  and  prosperity 
are  inseparably  connected  with  faithful  obedience  and 
turning  away  from  all  worldliness,  which  is  idolatry. 
They  stand  in  the  place  that  was  made  empty  by 
Israel's  later  fall.  Our  very  privileges  call  us  to  beware. 
*  Because  of  unbelief  they  were  broken  ofP,  and  thou 
standest  by  faith.'  That  great  seven-branched  candle- 
stick was  removed  out  of  its  place,  and  all  that  is  left 
of  it  is  its  sculptured  image  among  the  spoils  on  the 
triumphal  arch  to  its  captor.  Other  lesser  candle- 
sticks have  been  removed  from  their  places,  and 
Turkish  oppression  brings  night  where  Sardis  and 
Laodicea  once  gave  a  feeble  light.  The  warning  is 
needed  to-day ;  for  worldliness  is  rampant  in  the 
Church.  '  If  God  spared  not  the  natural  branches, 
take  heed  lest  He  also  spare  not  thee.'  The  fall  of 
Jerusalem  is  not  merely  a  tragic  story  from  the  past. 
It  is  a  revelation,  for  the  present,  of  the  everlasting 
truth,  that  the  professing  people  of  God  deserve  and 
receive  the  sorest  chastisement,  if  they  turn  again  to 
folly. 

Further,  we  learn  the  method  of  present  retribu- 
tion. Nebuchadnezzar  knew^  nothing  of  the  purposes 
which  he  fulfilled.  'He  meaneth  not  so,  neither 
doth  his  heart  think  so.'  He  was  but  the  '  axe ' 
with  which  God  hewed.  Therefore,  though  he  was 
God's  tool,  he  was  also  responsible,  and  would  be 
punished  even  for  performing  God's  *  whole  work  upon 
Jerusalem,'  because  of  *the  glory  of  his  high  looks.' 
The  retribution  of  disobedience,  so  far  as  that  retri- 
bution is  outward,  needs  no  •  miracle.'     The  ordinary 


72  SECOND  BOOK  OF  KINGS   [ch.  xxt. 

operations  of  Providence  amply  suffice  to  bring  it.  If 
God  wills  to  sting,  He  will  '  hiss  for  the  fly,'  and  it  will 
come.  The  ferocity  and  ambition  of  a  grim  and  bloody 
despot,  impelled  by  vainglory  and  lust  of  cruel  con- 
quest, do  God's  work,  and  yet  the  doing  is  sin.  The 
world  is  full  of  God's  instruments,  and  He  sends  punish- 
ments by  the  ordinary  play  of  motives  and  circum- 
stances, which  we  best  understand  when  we  see  behind 
all  His  mighty  hand  and  sovereign  will.  The  short- 
sighted view  of  history  says  'Nebuchadnezzar  captured 
Jerusalem  B.C.  so  and  so,'  and  then  discourses  about 
the  tendencies  of  which  Babylonia  was  exponent  and 
creature.  The  deeper  view  says,  God  smote  the  dis- 
obedient city,  as  He  had  said,  and  Nebuchadnezzar  was 
*  the  rod  of  His  anger.' 

Again,  we  learn  the  Divine  reluctance  to  smite. 
More  than  four  hundred  years  had  passed  since  Solo- 
mon began  idolatry,  and  steadily,  through  all  that 
time,  a  stream  of  prophecy  of  varying  force  and  width 
had  flowed,  while  smaller  disasters  had  confirmed  the 
prophets'  voices.  'Rising  up  early  and  sending'  his 
servants,  God  had  been  in  earnest  in  seeking  to  save 
Israel  from  itself.  Men  said  then,  *  Where  is  the  pro- 
mise of  His  coming  ?  *  and  mocked  His  warnings  and 
would  none  of  His  reproof ;  but  at  last  the  hour  struck 
and  the  crash  came.  '  As  a  dream  when  one  awaketh  ; 
so,  O  Lord!  when  Thou  awakest,  Thou  shalt  despise 
their  image.'  His  judgment  seems  to  slumber,  but  its 
eyes  are  open,  and  it  remains  inactive,  that  His  long- 
suffering  may  have  free  scope.  As  long  as  His  gaze 
can  discern  the  possibility  of  repentance,  He  will  not 
strike ;  and  when  that  is  hopeless.  He  will  not  delay. 
The  explanation  of  the  marvellous  tolerance  of  evil 
which  sometimes  tries  faith  and  always  evokes  wonder, 


vs.  1-12]  THE  END  78 

lies  in  the  great  words,  which  might  well  be  written 
over  the  chair  of  every  teacher  of  history :  '  The  Lord 
is  not  slack  concerning  His  promise,  as  some  men 
count  slackness ;  but  is  long-suffering  to  us-ward.' 
Alas,  that  that  divine  patience  should  ever  be  twisted 
into  the  ground  of  indurated  disobedience  !  *  Because 
sentence  against  an  evil  work  is  not  executed  speedily, 
therefore  the  heart  of  the  sons  of  men  is  fully  set 
in  them  to  do  evil.' 

God's  reluctance  to  punish  is  no  reason  for  doubting 
that  He  will.  Judgment  is  His  'strange  work,*  less 
congenial,  if  we  may  so  paraphrase  that  strong  word 
of  the  prophet's,  than  pure  mercy,  but  it  will  be  done 
nevertheless.  The  tears  over  Jerusalem  that  witnessed 
Christ's  sorrow  did  not  blind  the  eyes  like  a  flame  of 
fire,  nor  stay  the  outstretched  hand  of  the  Judge,  when 
the  time  of  her  final  fall  came.  The  longer  the  delay, 
the  worse  the  ruin.  The  more  protracted  the  respite 
and  the  fuller  it  has  been  of  entreaties  to  return,  the 
more  terrible  the  punishment.  '  Behold,  therefore,  the 
goodness  and  severity  of  God  :  towards  them  which  fell, 
severity ;  but  toward  thee,  goodness,  if  thou  continue 
in  His  goodness :  otherwise  thou  also  shalt  be  cut  off.' 


THE   FIRST   BOOK  OF   CHRONICLES 

THE  KING'S  POTTERS 

'  There  they  dwelt  with  the  king  for  his  work.'— 1  Chron.  iv.  23. 

In  these  dry  lists  of  names  which  abound  in  Chronicles, 
we  now  and  then  come  across  points  of  interest,  oases 
in  the  desert,  which  need  but  to  be  pondered  sympa- 
thetically to  yield  interesting  suggestions.  Here  for 
example,  buried  in  a  dreary  genealogical  table,  is  a 
little  touch  which  repays  meditating  on.  Among  the 
members  of  the  tribe  of  Judah  were  a  hereditary  caste 
of  potters  who  lived  in  'Netaim  and  Gederah,'  if  we 
adhere  to  the  Revised  Version's  text,  or '  among  planta- 
tions and  hedges '  if  we  prefer  the  margin.  But  they 
are  also  described  as  dwelling  'with  the  king.'  That 
can  only  mean  on  the  royal  estates,  for  the  king  him- 
self resided  in  Jerusalem.  He,  however,  held  large 
domains  in  the  territory  of  Judah,  on  some  of  which 
these  ceramic  artists  were  settled  down  and  followed 
their  calling.  They  were  kept  on  the  royal  estates 
and  kept  in  comfort,  not  needing  to  till,  but  fed  and 
cared  for,  that  they  might  be  free  to  mould,  out  of 
common  clay,  forms  of  beauty  and  'vessels  meet  for 
the  master's  use.'  Surely  we  may  read  into  the  brief 
statement  of  the  text  a  meaning  of  which  the  writer 
of  it  never  dreamt,  and  see  in  the  description  of  these 
forgotten  artisans,  a  symbol  of  our  Christian  relations 
to  our  Lord  and  of  our  life's  work. 
I.  "We,  too,  dwell  with  the  King. 

74 


V.23]  THE  KING'S  POTTERS  75 

The  Davidic  king  was  in  Jerusalem,  and  the  potters 
were  'among  plantations  and  hedges,'  yet  in  a  real 
sense  they  '  dwelt  with  the  king,'  though  some  of  them 
might  never  have  seen  his  face  or  trod  the  streets  of 
the  sacred  city.  Perhaps  now  and  then  he  came  to 
visit  them  on  his  outlying  domains,  but  they  were 
always  parts  of  his  household.  And  have  we,  Christ's 
servants,  not  His  gracious  parting  word:  *!  am  with 
you  always'?  True,  we  are  not  beside  Him  in  the 
great  city,  but  He  is  beside  us  in  His  outlying  domains, 
and  we  may  be  with  Him  in  His  glory,  if  while  we 
still  outwardly  live  among  the  'plantations  and  hedges' 
of  this  life,  we  dwell  in  spirit,  by  faith  and  aspiration, 
with  our  risen  and  ascended  Lord.  If  we  so  'dwell 
with  the  King,'  He  will  dwell  with  us,  and  fill  our 
humble  abode  with  the  radiance  of  His  presence, 
'making  that  place  of  His  feet  glorious.'  That  He 
should  be  with  us  is  supreme  condescension,  that  we 
should  be  with  Him  is  the  perfection  of  exaltation. 
How  low  He  stoops,  how  high  we  can  rise!  The 
vigour  of  our  Christian  life  largely  depends  on  our 
keeping  vivid  the  consciousness  of  our  communion 
with  Jesus  and  the  sense  of  His  real  presence  with 
us.  How  life's  burdens  would  be  lightened  if  we  faced 
them  all  in  the  strength  of  the  felt  nearness  of  our 
Lord!  How  impossible  it  would  be  that  we  should 
ever  feel  the  dreary  sense  of  solitude,  if  we  felt  that 
unseen,  but  most  real.  Presence  wrapping  us  round! 
It  is  only  when  our  faith  in  it  has  fallen  asleep  that 
any  earthly  good  allures,  or  any  earthly  evil  frightens 
us.  To  be  sure,  in  our  thrilling  consciousness,  that 
we  dwell  with  Jesus  is  an  impenetrable  cuirass  that 
blunts  the  points  of  all  arrows  and  keeps  the  breast 
that  wears  it  unwounded  in  the  fray.    The  world  has 


76     FIRST  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES   [ch.iv. 

no  voices  which  can  make  themselves  heard  above 
that  low  sovereign  whisper:  'I  am  with  you  always, 
even  to  the  end  of  the  world' — and  after  the  end 
has  come,  then  we  shall  be  with  Him. 

But  we  find  in  this  notice  a  hint  that  leads  us  in 
yet  another  direction.  They  'dwelt  with  the  king' 
in  the  sense  that  they  were  housed  and  cared  for  on 
his  lands.  And  in  like  manner,  the  true  conception 
of  the  Christian  life  is  that  each  of  us  is  'a  sojourner 
with  Thee,'  set  down  on  Christ's  domains,  and  looked 
after  by  Him  in  regard  to  provision  for  outward  wants. 
We  have  nothing  in  property,  but  all  is  His  and  held 
by  His  gift  and  to  be  used  for  Him.  The  slave  owns 
nothing.  The  patch  of  ground  which  he  cultivates  for 
his  food  and  what  grows  on  it,  are  his  master's.  These 
workmen  were  not  slaves,  but  they  were  not  owners 
either.  And  we  hold  nothing  as  our  own,  if  we  are 
true  to  the  terms  on  which  it  is  given  us  to  hold. 

So  if  we  rightly  appreciate  our  position  as  dwelling 
on  the  King's  lands,  our  delusion  of  possession  will 
vanish,  and  we  shall  feel  more  keenly  the  pressure 
of  responsibility  while  we  feel  less  keenly  the  grip  of 
anxiety.  We  are  for  the  time  being  entrusted  with 
a  tiny  piece  of  the  royal  estates.  Let  us  not  strut 
about  as  if  we  were  owners,  nor  be  for  ever  afraid 
that  we  shall  not  have  enough  for  our  needs.  One 
sometimes  comes  on  a  model  village  close  to  the  gates 
of  some  ducal  palace,  and  notes  how  the  lordly  owner's 
honour  prompts  its  being  kept  up  to  a  high  standard 
of  comfort  and  beauty.  We  may  be  sure  that  the 
potters  were  well  lodged  and  looked  after,  and  that 
care  for  their  personal  wants  was  shifted  from  their 
shoulders  to  the  king's.  So  should  ours  be.  He  will 
not  leave  His  servants  to  starve.    They  should  not 


V.23]  THE  KING'S  POTTERS  77 

dishonour  Him  and  disturb  themselves  by  worries  and 
cares  that  would  be  reasonable  only  if  they  had  no 
Provider.  He  has  said,  •  All  things  are  given  to  Me  of 
My  Father,'  and  He  gives  us  all  that  God  has  given  Him. 

II.  "We  dwell  with  the  King  for  His  work. 

The  king's  potters  had  not  to  till  the  land  nor  do 
any  work  but  to  mould  clay  into  vessels  for  use  and 
beauty.  For  that  purpose  they  had  their  huts  and 
bits  of  ground  assigned  them.  So  with  us,  Christ  has 
a  purpose  in  His  provision  for  us.  We  are  set  down 
on  His  domains,  and  we  enjoy  His  presence  and  pro- 
viding in  order  that,  set  free  from  carking  cares  and 
low  ends,  we  may,  with  free  and  joyous  hearts,  yield 
ourselves  to  His  joyful  service.  The  law  of  our  life 
should  be  that  we  please  not  ourselves,  nor  consult  our 
own  will  in  choosing  our  tasks,  nor  seek  our  own  profit 
or  gratification  in  doing  them,  but  ever  ask  of  Him: 
•  Lord,  what  wilt  Thou  have  me  to  do  ? '  and  when  the 
answer  comes,  as  come  it  will  to  all  who  ask  with  real 
desire  to  learn  and  with  real  inclination  to  do  His  will, 
that  we  'make  haste  and  delay  not,  but  make  haste 
to  keep  His  commandments.'  The  spirit  which  should 
animate  our  active  lives  is  plainly  enough  taught  us  in 
that  little  word,  they  'dwelt  with  the  king  for  his 
work.' 

Nor  are  we  to  forget  that,  in  a  very  profound  sense, 
dwelling  with  the  King  must  go  before  doing  His  work. 
Unless  we  are  living  continually  under  the  operation 
of  the  stimulus  of  communion  with  Jesus,  we  shall 
have  neither  quickness  of  ear  to  know  what  He  wishes 
us  to  do,  nor  any  resolute  concentration  of  ourselves 
on  our  Christ-appointed  tasks.  The  spring  of  all  noble 
living  is  communion  with  noble  ideals,  and  fellowship 
with  Jesus  sets  men  agoing,  as  nothing  else  will,  in 


78     FIRST  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES   [ch.iv. 

practical  lives  of  obedience  to  Jesus.  Time  given  to 
silent,  retired  meditation  on  that  sweet,  sacred  bond 
that  knits  the  believing  soul  to  the  redeeming  Lord 
is  not  lost  with  reference  to  active  work  for  Jesus. 
The  meditative  and  the  practical  life  are  not  antago- 
nistic, but  complementary.  Mary  and  Martha  are 
sisters,  though  sometimes  they  differ,  and  foolish 
people  try  to  set  them  against  each  other. 

But  we  must  beware  of  a  common  misconception 
of  what  the  King's  work  is.  The  royal  potters  did 
not  make  only  things  of  beauty,  but  very  common 
vessels  designed  for  common  and  ignoble  uses.  There 
were  vessels  of  dishonour  dried  in  their  kilns  as  well 
as  vessels  '  meet  for  the  master's  use,'  There  is  a  usual 
and  lamentable  narrowing  of  the  term  '  Christian  work,' 
to  certain  conventional  forms  of  service,  which  has  done 
and  is  doing  an  immense  amount  of  harm.  The  King's 
work  is  far  wider  in  scope  than  teaching  in  Sunday- 
schools,  or  visiting  the  sick,  or  any  similar  acts  that 
are  usually  labelled  with  the  name.  It  covers  all  the 
common  duties  of  life.  A  shallow  religion  tickets 
some  selected  items  with  the  name ;  a  robuster,  truer 
conception  extends  the  designation  to  everything.  It 
is  not  only  when  we  are  definitely  trying  to  bring 
others  into  touch  with  Jesus  that  we  are  doing  Him 
service,  but  we  may  be  equally  serving  Him  in  every- 
thing. The  difference  between  the  king's  work  and 
the  poor  potters'  own  lay  not  so  much  in  the  nature 
as  in  the  motive  of  it,  and  whatever  we  do  for  Christ's 
sake  and  with  a  view  to  His  will  is  work  that  He  owns, 
while  a  regard  to  self  in  our  motive  or  in  our  end 
decisively  strikes  any  service  tainted  by  it  out  of  the 
category. 

We  are  to  hallow  all    our    deeds    by  drawing  the 


V.23]  DAVID'S  CHORISTERS  79 

motive  for  them  from  the  King  and  by  laying  the 
fruits  of  them  at  His  feet.  Thus,  and  only  thus, 
will  the  most  'secular'  actions  be  sanctified  and  the 
narrowest  life  be  widened  to  contain  a  present  Christ. 

There  are  subsidiary  motives  which  may  legitimately 
blend  with  the  supreme  one.  The  potters  would  be 
stimulated  to  work  hard  and  with  their  utmost  skill 
when  they  thought  of  how  well  they  were  paid  in 
house  and  store  for  their  work.  We  have  ample 
reasons  for  dedicating  our  whole  selves  to  Jesus  when 
we  think  of  His  gift  of  Himself  to  us,  of  His  wages 
beforehand,  of  His  joyful  presence  with  His  eye  ever 
on  us,  marking  our  purity  of  motive  and  our  diligence. 

There  is  a  final  thought  that  may  v/ell  stimulate 
us  to  put  all  our  skill  and  effort  into  our  work.  The 
potters'  work  went  to  Jerusalem.  It  was  for  the  king. 
What  can  be  too  good  for  him?  He  will  see  it, 
therefore  let  us  put  our  best  into  it.  And  we  shall 
see  it  too,  when  we  too  enter  'the  city  of  the  great 
King.'  Jars  that  perhaps  were  wrought  by  these  very 
workmen  of  whom  we  have  been  speaking  turn  up 
to-day  in  the  excavations  in  Palestine.  So  much  has 
perished  and  they  remain,  speaking  symbols  of  the 
solemn  truth  that  nothing  human  ever  dies.  Our 
'works  do  follow  us.'  Let  us  so  live  that  these  may 
be  'found  unto  praise  and  honour  and  glory'  at  the 
appearing  of  '  the  King.' 


DAVID'S  CHORISTERS 

•  They  stood  in  their  office,  according  to  their  order.' 

1  Chron.  vi.  32  (R.V.  margin). 

This  brief  note  is  buried  in  the  catalogue  of  the  singers 
appointed  by  David  for  'the  service  of  song  in  the 


80     FIRST  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES   [ch.vi. 

house  of  the  Lord.'  The  waves  of  their  choral  praise 
have  long  ages  since  ceased  to  eddy  round  the  '  taber- 
nacle of  the  tent  of  meeting,'  and  all  that  is  left  of  their 
melodious  companies  is  a  dry  list  of  names,  in  spite  of 
which  the  dead  owners  of  them  are  nameless.  But  the 
chronicler's  description  of  thetn  may  carry  some  lessons 
for  us,  for  is  not  the  Church  of  Christ  a  choir,  chosen 
to  'shew  forth  the  praises  of  Him  who  has  called  ua 
out  of  darkness  into  His  marvellous  light '  ?  We  take  a 
permissible  liberty  with  this  fragment,  when  we  use  it 
to  point  lessons  that  may  help  that  great  band  of  chor- 
isters who  are  charged  with  the  office  of  making  the 
name  of  Jesus  ring  through  the  world.  Now,  in  making 
such  a  use  of  the  text,  we  may  linger  on  each  important 
word  in  it  and  find  each  fruitful  in  suggestions  which 
we  shall  be  the  better  for  expanding  in  our  own 
meditations. 

We  pause  on  the  first  word,  which  is  rendered  in  the 
Authorised  and  Revised  Versions  '  waited,'  and  in  the 
margin  of  the  latter  'stood.'  The  former  rendering 
brings  into  prominence  the  mental  attitude  with  which 
the  singers  held  themselves  ready  to  take  their  turns 
in  the  service,  the  latter  points  rather  to  their  bodily 
attitude  as  they  fulfilled  their  office.  We  get  a  picture 
of  the  ranked  files  gathered  round  their  three  leaders, 
Heman,  Asaph,  and  Ethan.  These  three  names  are 
familiar  to  us  from  the  Psalter,  but  how  all  the  ranks 
behind  them  have  fallen  dim  to  us,  and  how  their  song 
has  floated  into  inaudible  distance !  They  '  stood,'  a 
melodious  multitude,  girt  and  attent  on  their  song,  or 
waiting  their  turn  to  fill  the  else  silent  air  with  the 
high  praises  of  Jehovah,  and  glad  when  it  came  to  their 
turn  to  open  their  lips  in  full-throated  melody. 

Now  may  we   not    catch  the    spirit   of    that  long 


V.32]  DAVID'S  CHORISTERS  81 

vanished  chorus,  and  find  in  the  two  possible  renderings 
of  this  word  a  twofold  example,  the  faithful  following  of 
which  would  put  new  vigour  into  our  service  ?  We  are 
called  to  a  loftier  office,  and  have  heavenly  harmonies 
entrusted  to  us  to  be  made  vocal  by  our  lips,  compared 
with  which  theirs  were  poor.  '  They  waited  on '  their 
office,  and  shall  not  we,  in  a  higher  fashion,  wait  on  our 
ministry,  and  suffer  no  inferior  claims  to  block  our  way 
or  hamper  our  preparedness  to  discharge  it?  To  let 
ourselves  be  entangled  with  '  the  affairs  of  this  life,'  or 
to  '  drowse  in  idle  cell,'  sleepily  letting  summonses  that 
should  wake  us  to  work  sound  unheeded  and  almost 
unheard,  is  flagrant  despite  done  to  our  high  vocation 
as  Christians.  '  They  also  serve  who  only  stand  and 
wait,'  but  not  if  in  their  waiting  their  eyes  are  straying 
everywhere  but  to  their  Master's  pointing  hand  or 
directing  eye.  The  world  is  full  of  voices  calling  Christ's 
folk  to  help ;  but  what  a  host  of  so-called  Christians 
fail  to  hear  these  piteous  and  despairing  cries,  because 
the  noise  of  their  own  whims,  fancies,  and  self-centred 
desires  keeps  buzzing  in  their  ears.  A  constant  ac- 
companiment of  deafness  is  constant  noises  in  the  head  ; 
and  the  Christians  who  are  hardest  of  hearing  when 
Christ  calls  are  generally  afflicted  with  noises  which 
are  probably  the  cause,  and  not  merely  an  accompani- 
ment, of  their  deafness.  For  indeed  it  demands  no 
little  detachment  of  spirit  from  self  and  sense,  from  the 
world  and  its  clamant  suitors,  if  a  Christian  soul  is  to 
be  ready  to  mark  the  first  signal  of  the  great  Con- 
ductor's baton,  and  to  answer  the  lightest  whisper, 
intrusting  it  with  a  task  for  Him,  with  its  self-con- 
secrating '  Here  am  I.    Send  me.' 

It  used  to  be  said  that  they  who  watched  for  provi- 
dences never  wanted  providences  to  watch  for;^t_is 

;   4  ; 


82     FIRST  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES   [ch.vi. 

equally  true  that  they  who  are  on  the  watch  for  oppor- 
tunities for  service  never  fail  to  find  them,  and  that 
ears  pricked  to  '  hear  what  God  the  Lord  shall  speak,* 
summoning  to  work  for  Him,  will  not  listen  in  vain. 
Paul  saw  in  a  vision  '  a  man  of  Macedonia '  begging  for 
his  help,  and  '  straightway '  he  concluded  that '  God  had 
called'  him  to  preach  in  Europe.  Happy  are  these 
Christian  workers  who  hear  God's  voice  speaking 
through  men's  needs,  and  recognise  a  divine  imperative 
in  human  cries ! 

May  we  not  see  in  the  attitude  of  David's  choristers 
as  they  sang,  hints  for  our  ow^n  discharge  of  the  tasks 
of  our  Christian  service  ?  There  was  a  curse  of  old  on 
him  who  did  the  work  of  the  Lord  '  negligently,'  and  its 
weight  falls  still  on  workers  and  work.  For  who  can 
measure  the  harm  done  to  the  Christian  life  of  the 
negligent  worker,  and  w^ho  can  expect  any  blessing  to 
come  either  to  him  or  to  others  from  such  half-hearted 
seeming  service  ?  The  devil's  kingdom  is  not  to  be  cast 
down  nor  Christ's  to  be  builded  up  by  workers  who  put 
less  than  their  whole  selves,  the  entire  weight  of  their 
bodies,  into  their  toil.  A  pavior  on  the  street  brings 
down  his  rammer  at  every  stroke  with  an  accompany- 
ing exclamation  expressing  effort,  and  there  is  no  place 
in  Christ's  service  for  dainty  people  who  will  not  sweat 
at  their  task,  and  are  in  mortal  fear  of  over-work. 
Strenuousness,  the  gathering  together  of  all  our  powers, 
are  implied  in  the  attitude  of  Heman  and  his  band  as 
they  '  stood '  in  their  office.  Idle  revellers  might  loll  on 
their  rose-strewn  couches  as  they  '  sing  idle  songs  to  the 
sound  of  the  viol  and  devise  for  themselves  instruments 
of  music,  like  David,'  but  the  austerer  choir  of  the 
Temple  despised  ease,  and  stood  ready  for  service  and 
in  the  best  bodily  posture  for  song. 


Y.32]  DAVID'S  CHORISTERS  83 

The  second  important  word  of  the  text  brings  other 
thoughts  no  less  valuable  and  rich  in  practical  counsel. 
The  singers  in  the  Temple  stood  in  their  '  office,'  which 
was  song.  Their  special  work  was  praise.  And  that  is 
the  highest  task  of  the  Church.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
every  period  of  quickened  earnestness  in  the  Church's 
life  has  been  a  period  marked  by  a  great  outburst  of 
Christian  song.  All  intense  emotion  seeks  expression 
in  poetry,  and  music  is  the  natural  speech  of  a  vivid 
faith.  Luther  chanted  the  Marseillaise  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, 'A  safe  stronghold  our  God  is  still,'  and  many 
another  sweet  strain  blended  strangely  with  the  fiery 
and  sometimes  savage  words  from  his  lips.  The  Scot- 
tish Reformation,  grim  in  some  of  its  features  as  it  was, 
had  yet  its  '  Gude  and  Godly  Ballads.'  At  the  birth  of 
Methodism,  as  round  the  cradle  at  Bethlehem,  hovered 
as  it  were  angel  voices  singing,  '  Glory  to  God  in  the 
highest.'  A  flock  of  singing  birds  let  loose  attends 
every  revival  of  Christian  life. 

The  Church's  praise  is  the  noblest  expression  of  the 
Church's  life.  Its  hymns  go  deeper  than  its  creeds, 
touch  hearts  more  to  the  quick,  minister  to  the  faith 
which  they  enshrine,  and  often  draw  others  to  see  the 
preciousness  of  the  Christ  whom  they  celebrate.  How 
little  we  should  have  known  of  Old  Testament  religion, 
notwithstanding  law  and  prophets,  if  the  Psalter  had 
perished! 

And  it  is  true,  in  a  very  deep  sense,  that  we  shall  do 
more  for  Christ  and  men  by  voicing  our  own  deep 
thankfulness  for  His  great  gifts  and  speaking  simply 
our  valuation  of,  and  our  thankfulness  for,  what  we 
draw  from  Him  than  by  any  other  form  of  so-called 
Christian  work.  We  can  offend  none  by  saying  :  '  We 
have  found  the  Messias,'  and  are  adoringly  glad  that  we 


84     FIRST  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES   [ch.vi. 

have.  The  most  effectual  way  of  moving  other  souls  to 
participate  in  our  joy  is  to  let  our  joy  speak.  '  If  you 
wish  me  to  weep,'  your  own  tears  must  not  be  held  back, 
and  if  you  wish  others  to  know  the  preciousness  of 
Christ,  you  must  ring  out  His  name  with  fervour  of 
emotion  and  the  triumphant  confidence.  We  are  the 
'  secretaries  of  God's  praise,'  as  George  Herbert  has  it, 
for  we  have  possession  of  His  greatest  gift,  and  have 
learned  to  know  Him  in  loftier  fashion  than  Heman's 
choristers  dreamed  of,  having  seen  '  the  glory  of  God  in 
the  face  of  Jesus  Christ,'  and  tasted  the  sweetness  of 
redeeming  love.  The  Apocalyptic  seer  sets  forth  a  great 
truth  when  he  tells  us  that  he  first  heard  a  new  song 
from  the  lips  of  the  representatives  of  the  Church,  who 
could  sing,  '  Thou  wast  slain  and  didst  redeem  us  to 
God  with  Thy  blood,'  and  then  heard  their  adoration 
echoed  from  '  many  angels  round  about  the  throne,' 
and  finally  heard  the  song  reverberated  from  every 
created  thing  in  heaven  and  earth,  in  the  sea  and  all 
deep  places.  A  praising  Church  has  experiences  of  its 
own  which  angels  cannot  share,  and  it  sets  in  motion 
the  great  sea  of  praise  whose  surges  break  in  music 
and  roll  from  every  side  of  the  universe  in  melodioug 
thunder  to  the  great  white  throne.  Without  our  song 
even  angel  voices  would  lack  somewhat. 

*  God  said,  '•  A  praise  is  in  Mine  ear ; 
There  is  no  doubt  in  it,  no  fear  : 
Clearer  loves  sound  other  ways  : 
I  miss  My  little  human  praise."  ' 

The  song  of  the  redeemed  has  in  it  a  minor  strain  that 
gives  a  sweetness  far  more  poignant  than  belongs  to 
those  who  cannot  say  :  'Out  of  the  depths  I  cried  unto 
Thee.'     'The  sweetest  songs  are  those  which  tell  of 


V.32]  DAVID'S  CHORISTERS  85 

saddest  thought/  and  recount  experiences  of  conquered 
sin  and  life  springing  from  death. 

But  it  is  also  true  that  no  kind  of  Christian  service 
will  be  effectual,  if  it  lacks  the  element  of  grateful 
praise  as  its  motive  and  mainspring.  Perhaps  there 
would  be  fewer  complaints  of  toiling  all  night  and 
wearily  hauling  in  empty  nets,  if  the  nets  were  oftener 
let  down  not  only  '  at  Thy  word,'  but  with  glad  remem- 
brance of  the  fishermen's  debt  to  Jesus,  and  in  the  spirit 
of  praise.  When  all  our  work  is  a  sacrifice  of  praise, 
it  is  pleasing  to  God  and  profitable  to  ourselves  and 
to  others.  If  we  would  oftener  bethink  ourselves,  and 
herald  every  deed  with  a  silent  dedication  of  it  and  of 
ourselves  to  Him  who  died  for  us,  we  should  less  often 
have  to  complain  that  we  have  sowed  much  and  brought 
back  little.  A  pinch  of  incense  cast  into  the  common 
domestic  fire  makes  its  flame  sacrificial  and  fragrant. 

The  last  important  word  of  the  text  is  also  fertile  in 
hints  for  us.  The  singers  stood  in  their  office  '  according 
to  their  order.'  That  last  expression  may  either  refer 
to  rotation  of  service  or  to  distribution  of  parts  in  the 
chorus.  They  did  not  sing  in  unison,  grand  as  the 
effect  of  such  a  song  from  a  multitude  sometimes  is, 
but  they  had  their  several  parts.  The  harmonious 
complexity  of  a  great  chorus  is  the  ideal  for  the  Church. 
Paul  puts  the  same  thought  in  a  sterner  metaphor 
when  he  tells  the  Colossian  Christians  that  he  joys 
•beholding  your  order  and  the  steadfastness  of  your 
faith  in  Christ,'  where  he  is  evidently  thinking  of  the 
Roman  legion  with  its  rigid  discipline  and  its  solid, 
irresistible,  ranked  weight.  Division  of  function  and 
consequent  concordant  action  of  different  parts  is  the 
lesson  taught  by  both  metaphors,  and  by  the  many 
modern  examples  of  the  immense  results  gained  in 


86     FIRST  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES   [ch.vi. 

machinery  that  almost  simulates  vital  action,  and  by 
organisations  for  great  purposes  in  which  men  com- 
bine. The  Church  should  be  the  highest  example  of 
such  combination,  for  it  is  the  shrine  of  the  noblest  life, 
even  the  life  of  its  indwelling  Lord.  Every  member  of 
it  should  have  and  know  his  place.  Every  Christian 
should  know  his  part  in  the  great  chorus,  for  he  has  a 
part,  even  if  it  is  only  that  of  tinkling  the  triangle  in 
the  orchestra  or  beating  a  drum.  That  division  of 
function  and  concordance  of  action  apply  to  all  forms 
of  the  Church's  action,  and  are  enforced  most  chiefly  by 
the  great  Apostolic  metaphor  of  the  body  and  its  mem- 
bers. Paul  did  not  delight  in  '  uniformity.'  Inferiors 
calling  themselves  his  successors  have  often  aimed  at 
enforcing  it,  but  nature  has  been  too  strong  for  them, 
and  the  hedge  will  grow  its  own  way  in  spite  of  pedants' 
shears.  'If  the  whole  body  were  an  eye,  where  the 
hearing  ? '  The  monotony  of  a  church  in  which  unifor- 
mity was  the  ideal  would  be  intolerable.  The  chorus 
has  its  parts,  and  the  soprano  cannot  say  to  the  bass, '  I 
have  no  need  of  you,'  nor  the  bass  to  the  tenor, '  I  have 
no  need  of  thee.' 

So  let  us  see  that  we  find  our  own  place,  and  see  that 
we  fill  it,  singing  our  own  part  lustily,  and  not  being 
either  confused  or  made  dumb  because  another  has 
other  notes  to  sing  than  are  written  on  our  score.  Let 
us  recognise  unity  made  more  melodious  by  diversity, 
the  importance  of  the  humblest,  and  'having  gifts 
differing  according  to  the  grace  given  unto  us  let  us 
wait  on  our  ministry,'  and  stand  in  our  office  according 
to  our  order. 


DRILL  AND  ENTHUSIASM 

*[Men  that]  could  keep  rank,  they  were  not  of  double  heart.'— 1  Chron.  xll.  31 

These  words  come  from  the  muster-roll  of  the  hastily 
raised  army  that  brought  David  up  to  Hebron  and 
made  him  King.  The  catalogue  abounds  in  brief 
characterisations  of  the  qualities  of  each  tribe's  con- 
tingent. For  example,  Issachar  had  'understanding 
of  the  times.'  Our  text  is  spoken  of  the  warriors  of 
Zebulon,  who  had  left  their  hills  and  their  flocks  in 
the  far  north,  and  poured  down  from  their  seats  by 
the  blue  waters  of  Tiberias  to  gather  round  their 
king.  They  were  not  only  like  their  brethren  expert 
in  war  and  fully  equipped,  but  they  had  some  measure 
of  discipline  too,  a  rare  thing  in  the  days  when  there 
were  no  standing  armies.  They  'could  keep  rank,' 
could  march  together,  had  been  drilled  to  some  unani- 
mity of  step  and  action,  could  work  and  fight  together, 
were  an  army,  not  a  crowd,  and  not  only  so,  but  also 
•they  were  not  of  double  heart.'  Each  man,  and  the 
whole  body,  had  a  brave  single  resolve ;  they  had  one 
spirit  animating  the  whole,  and  that  was  to  make 
David  king,  an  enthusiastic  loyalty  which  made  them 
brave,  and  a  discipline  which  kept  the  courage  from 
running  to  waste. 

I  take,  then,  this  text  as  bringing  before  us  two  very 
important  characteristics  which  ought  to  be  found  in 
every  Christian  church,  and  without  which  no  real 
prosperity  and  growth  is  possible.  These  two  may 
be  put  very  briefly:  organisation  and  enthusiastic 
devotion.  These  are  both  important,  but  in  very 
different  degrees.    Organisation  without  valour  is  in 


88    FIRST  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES     [ch.  xn. 

a  worse  plight  than  valour  without  organisation.  The 
one  is  fundamental,  the  other  secondary.  The  one  is 
the  true  cause,  so  far  as  men  are  concerned,  of  victory, 
the  other  is  but  the  instrument  by  which  the  cause 
works.  There  have  been  many  victories  won  by 
undisciplined  valour,  but  disciplined  cowardice  and 
apathy  come  to  no  good. 

These  two  have  been  separated  and  made  antagon- 
istic, and  churches  are  to  be  found  which  glory  in  the 
one,  and  others  in  the  other.  Some  have  gone  in  for 
order,  and  are  like  butterflies  in  a  cabinet  all  ticketed 
and  displayed  in  place,  but  a  pin  is  run  through  their 
bodies  and  they  are  dead ;  and  others  have  prided 
themselves  on  unfettered  freedom,  and  been  not  an 
army,  but  a  mob.  The  true  relation,  of  course,  is 
that  life  should  shape  and  inform  organisation,  and 
organisation  should  preserve,  manifest  and  obey  life. 
There  must  be  body  to  hold  spirit,  there  must  be  spirit 
to  keep  body  from  rotting. 

I.  Organisation. 

This  is  not  the  strong  point  of  Nonconformist 
churches.  We  pride  ourselves  on  our  individualism, 
and  that  is  all  very  well.  We  believe  in  direct  access 
of  each  soul  to  Christ,  that  men  must  come  to  Him 
one  by  one,  that  religion  is  purely  a  personal  matter, 
and  the  firmness  with  which  we  hold  this  tends  to 
make  us  weak  in  combined  action.  It  cannot  be  truth- 
fully denied  that  both  in  the  relations  of  our  churches 
to  one  another,  and  in  the  internal  organisation  of 
these,  we  are  and  have  been  too  loosely  compacted, 
and  have  forgotten  that  two  is  more  than  one  plus  one, 
so  that  we  are  only  helping  to  redress  the  balance  a 
little  when  we  insist  upon  the  importance  of  organisa- 
tion in  our  churches. 


V.33]       DRILL  AND  ENTHUSIASM  89 

And  first  of  all — remember  the  principles  in  sub- 
ordination to  which  our  organisation  must  be  framed. 

What  are  we  united  by  ?  Common  love  and  faith  to 
Christ,  or  rather  Christ  Himself.  '  One  is  your  Master, 
even  Christ,  and  all  ye  are  brethren.'  So  there  must 
be  nothing  in  our  organisation  which  is  inconsistent 
with  Christ's  supreme  place  among  us,  and  with  our 
individual  obedience  to  Him.  There  are  to  be  no 
'lords  over  God's  heritage'  in  the  Church  of  Christ. 
There  are  churches  in  which  the  temptation  to  be  such 
affects  the  official  chiefly,  and  there  are  others,  with  a 
different  polity,  in  which  it  is  chiefly  a  Diotrephes,  who 
loves  to  have  pre-eminence.  Character,  zeal,  social 
station,  even  wealth  will  always  confer  a  certain  in- 
fluence, and  their  possessors  will  be  tempted  to  set 
up  their  own  will  or  opinions  as  dominant  in  the 
Church.  Such  men  are  sinning  against  the  very  bond 
of  Christian  union.  Organisation  which  is  bought 
by  investing  one  man  with  authority,  is  too  dearly 
purchased  at  the  cost  of  individual  development  on 
the  individual's  own  lines.  A  row  of  clipped  yew-trees 
is  not  an  inspiring  sight. 

And  yet  again  what  are  we  organised  for?  Not 
merely  for  our  own  growth  or  spiritual  advantage, 
but  also,  and  more  especially,  for  spreading  faith  in 
Christ  and  advancing  His  glory.  All  our  organisation, 
then,  is  but  an  arrangement  for  doing  our  work,  and  if 
it  hinders  that,  it  is  cumbrous  and  must  be  cut  away 
or  modified,  at  all  hazards.  Ecclesiastical  martinets 
are  still  to  be  found,  to  whom  drill  is  all-important, 
and  who  see  no  use  in  irregular  valour,  but  they  are 
a  diminishing  number,  and  they  may  be  recommended 
to  ponder  the  old  wise  saying:  'Where  no  oxen  are, 
the  crib  is  clean,  but  m.uch  increase  is  by  the  strength 


90     FIRST  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES     [ch.  xii. 

of  the  ox.'  If  the  one  aim  is  a  'clean  crib,*  the  best 
way  to  secure  that  is  to  keep  it  empty ;  but  if  a  harvest 
is  the  aim,  there  must  be  cultivation,  and  one  must 
accept  the  consequences  of  having  a  strong  team  to 
plough.  The  end  of  drill  is  fighting.  The  parade- 
ground  and  its  exercising  is  in  order  that  a  corps  may 
be  hurled  against  the  enemy,  or  may  stand  unmoved, 
like  a  solid  breakwater  against  a  charge  which  it 
flings  off  in  idle  spray,  and  the  end  of  the  Church's 
organisation  is  that  it  may  move  en  masse,  without 
waste,  against  the  enemy. 

But  a  further  guiding  principle  to  shape  Christian 
organisation  is  that  of  the  Church  as  the  body  of 
Christ.  That  requires  that  there  shall  be  work  for 
every  member.  Christ  has  endowed  His  members  with 
varying  gifts,  powers,  opportunities,  and  has  set  them 
in  diverse  circumstances,  that  each  may  give  his  own 
contribution  to  the  general  stock  of  work.  Our  theory 
is  that  each  man  has  his  own  proper  gift  from  God, 
'one  after  this  manner,  and  another  after  that.'  But 
what  is  our  practice?  Take  any  congregation  of 
Christian  people  in  any  of  our  churches,  and  especially 
in  the  Free  Churches  of  which  I  know  most,  and  is 
there  anything  like  this  wide  diversity  of  forms  of 
service,  to  which  each  contributes?  A  handful  of 
people  do  all  the  work,  and  the  remainder  are  idlers. 
The  same  small  section  are  in  evidence  always,  and 
the  rest  are  nowhere.  There  are  but  a  few  bits  of 
coloured  glass  in  a  kaleidoscope,  they  take  different 
patterns  when  the  tube  is  turned,  but  they  are  always 
the  same  bits  of  glass. 

There  needs  to  be  a  far  greater  variety  of  forms  of 
work  for  our  people  and  more  workers  in  the  field. 
There  are  too  few  wheels  for  the  quantity  of  water 


V.  33]        DRILL  AND  ENTHUSIASM  91 

in  the  river,  and,  partly  for  that  reason,  the  amount 
of  water  that  runs  waste  over  the  sluice  is  deplorable. 
There  is  a  danger  in  having  too  many  spindles  for 
the  power  available,  but  the  danger  in  modern  church 
organisation  is  exactly  the  other  way. 

Every  one  should  have  his  own  work.  In  all  living 
creatures,  differentiation  of  organs  increases  as  the 
creature  rises  in  the  scale  of  being,  from  the  simple 
sac  which  does  everything  up  to  the  human  body  with 
a  distinct  function  for  every  finger.  It  should  not  be 
possible  for  a  lazy  Christian  to  plead  truly  as  his 
vindication  that  'no  man  had  hired'  him.  It  should 
be  the  Church's  business  to  find  work  for  the  un- 
employed. 

The  example  in  our  text  should  enforce  the  necessity 
of  united  work.  David's  levies  could  keep  rank.  They 
did  not  let  each  man  go  at  his  own  rate  and  by  his  own 
road,  but  kept  together,  shoulder  to  shoulder,  with 
equal  stride.  They  were  content  to  co-operate  and  be 
each  a  part  of  a  greater  whole.  That  keeping  rank 
is  a  difficult  problem  in  all  societies,  where  individual 
judgments,  weaknesses,  wills,  and  crotchets  are  at 
work,  but  it  is  apt  to  be  especially  difficult  in  Christian 
communities,  where  one  may  expect  to  find  individual 
characteristics  intensified,  a  luxuriant  growth  of  per- 
sonal peculiarities,  an  intense  grip  of  partial  aspects 
of  the  great  truths  and  a  corresponding  dislike  of  other 
aspects  of  these,  and  of  those  whose  favourite  truths 
they  are.  One  would  do  nothing  to  clip  that  growth, 
but  still  Christians  who  have  not  learned  to  subordinate 
themselves  in  and  for  united  work  are  of  little  use  to 
God  or  man.  What  does  such  united  work  require? 
Mainly  the  bridling  of  self,  the  curbing  of  one's  own 
will,  not  insisting  on  forcing  one's  opinions  on  one's 


92    FIRST  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES     [cH.xn. 

brother,  not  being  careful  of  having  one's  place  secured 
and  one's  honour  asserted.  Without  such  virtues  no 
association  of  men  could  survive  for  a  year.  If  the 
world  managed  its  societies  as  the  Church  manages  its 
unity,  they  would  collapse  quickly.  Indeed  it  is  a 
strong  presumption  in  favour  of  Christianity  that  the 
Churches  have  not  killed  it  long  ago.  Vanity,  pride, 
self-importance,  masterfulness,  pettishness  get  full  play 
among  us.  Diotrephes  has  many  descendants  to-day. 
A  cotton  mill,  even  if  it  were  a  co-operative  one,  could 
not  work  long  without  going  into  bankruptcy,  if  there 
were  no  more  power  of  working  together  than  some 
Christian  congregations  have.  A  watch  would  be  a 
poor  timekeeper,  where  every  wheel  tried  to  set  the 
pace  and  be  a  mainspring,  or  sulked  because  the 
hands  moved  on  the  face  in  sight  of  all  men,  while 
it  had  to  move  round  and  fit  into  its  brother  wheel 
in  the  dark. 

Subordination  is  required  as  well  as  co-operation. 
For  if  there  be  harmonious  co-operation  in  varying 
offices,  there  must  be  degrees  and  ranks.  The  differ- 
ences of  power  and  gift  make  degrees,  and  in  every 
society  there  will  be  leaders.  Of  course  there  is  no 
commanding  authority  in  the  Churches.  Its  leaders 
are  brethren,  whose  most  imperative  highest  word  is, 
•  We  beseech  you.' 

Of  course,  too,  these  varieties  and  degrees  do  not 
mean  real  superiority  or  inferiority  in  the  eye  of  God. 
From  the  highest  point  of  view  nothing  is  great  or 
small,  there  is  no  higher  or  lower.  The  only  measure 
is  quality,  the  only  gauge  is  motive.  '  Small  service 
is  true  service  while  it  lasts.'  He  that  receiveth  a 
prophet  in  the  name  of  a  prophet,  shall  receive  a 
prophet's  reward.     But  yet  there  are,  so  far  as  our 


V.33]        DRILL  AND  ENTHUSIASM  93 

work  here  is  concerned,  degrees  and  orders,  and 
we  need  a  hearty  and  ungrudging  recognition  of 
superiority  wherever  we  find  it.  If  the  'brother  of 
high  degree'  needs  to  be  exhorted  to  beware  of 
arrogance  and  imposing  his  own  will  on  his 
fellows,  the  '  brother  of  low  degree '  needs  not  less 
to  be  exhorted  to  beware  of  letting  envy  and  self- 
will  hiss  and  snarl  in  his  heart  at  those  who  are  in 
higher  positions  than  himself.  If  the  chief  of  all 
needs  to  be  reminded  that  in  Christ's  household  pre- 
eminence means  service,  the  lower  no  less  needs  to 
be  reminded  that  in  Christ's  household  service  means 
pre-eminence. 

So  much,  then,  for  organisation.  It  is  perfectly  re- 
concilable with  democracy  that  is  not  mob-ocracy.  In 
fact,  democracy  needs  it  most.  If  I  may  venture  to 
Bpeak  to  the  members  of  the  Free  Churches,  with 
which  I  am  best  acquainted,  I  would  take  upon  myself 
to  say  that  there  is  nothing  which  they  need  more 
than  that  they  should  show  their  polity  to  be  capable 
of  reconciling  the  freest  development  of  the  individual 
with  the  most  efficient  organisation  of  the  community. 
The  object  is  work  for  Christ,  the  bond  of  their  fellow- 
ship is  brotherly  union  with  Christ.  Many  eyes  are  on 
them  to-day,  and  the  task  is  in  their  hands  of  showing 
that  they  can  keep  rank.  The  most  perfect  discipline 
in  war  in  old  times  was  found,  not  amongst  the  sub- 
jects of  Eastern  despots  who  were  not  free  enough  to 
learn  to  submit,  but  amongst  the  republics  of  Greece, 
where  men  were  all  on  a  level  in  the  city,  and  fell 
into  their  places  in  the  camp,  because  they  loved 
liberty  enough  to  know  the  worth  of  discipline,  and  so 
the  slaves  of  Xerxes  were  scattered  before  the  resist- 
less onset  of  the  phalanx  of  the  free.     The  terrible 


94     FIRST  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES    [ch.  xii. 

legion  which  moved  '  altogether  when  it  moved  at  all,' 
and  could  be  launched  at  the  foe  like  one  javelin  of 
steel,  had  for  its  units  free  men  and  equals.  There 
needs  freedom  for  organisation.  There  needs  organisa- 
tion for  freedom.  Let  us  learn  the  lesson.  *  God  is  not 
the  author  of  confusion,  but  of  order,  in  all  churches 
of  saints.' 

II.  Enthusiastic  devotion. 

These  men  came  to  bring  David  up  to  Hebron  with 
one  single  purpose  in  their  hearts.  They  had  no  sidelong 
glances  to  their  own  self-interest,  they  had  no  waver- 
ing loyalty,  they  had  no  trembling  fears,  so  we  may 
take  their  spirit  as  expressing  generally  the  deepest 
requirements  for  prosperity  in  a  church. 

The  foundation  of  all  prosperity  is  a  passion  of 
personal  attachment  to  Christ  our  King. 

Christ  is  Christianity  objective.  Love  to  Christ  is 
Christianity  subjective.  The  whole  stress  of  Christian 
character  is  laid  on  this.  It  is  the  mother  of  all 
grace  and  goodness,  and  in  regard  to  the  work  of  the 
Church,  it  is  the  ardour  of  a  soul  full  of  love  to 
Jesus  that  conquers.  The  one  thing  in  which  all  who 
have  done  much  for  Him  have  been  alike  is  that  single- 
hearted  devotion. 

But  such  love  is  the  child  of  faith.  It  rests  upon 
belief  of  truth,  and  is  the  response  of  man  to  God. 
Dwelling  in  the  truth  is  the  means  of  it.  How  our 
modern  Christianity  fails  in  this  strong  personal  bond 
of  familiar  love ! 

Consider  its  effect  on  the  individual. 

It  will  give  tenacity  of  purpose,  will  brace  to 
strenuous  effort,  will  subdue  self,  self-regard,  self- 
importance,  will  subdue  fear.  It  is  the  true  anaes- 
thetic.    The    soldier    is    unconscious    of   his   wounds, 


V.33]        DRILL  AND  ENTHUSIASM  95 

while  the  glow  of  devotion  is  in  his  heart  and  the 
shout  of  the  battle  in  his  ears.  It  will  give  fertility  of 
resource  and  patience. 

Consider  its  effect  on  the  community. 

It  will  remove  all  difficulties  in  the  way  of  discipline 
arising  from  vanity  and  self  which  can  be  subdued  by 
no  other  means.  That  flame  fuses  all  into  one  glowing 
mass  like  a  stream  that  pours  from  the  blast  furnace. 
What  a  power  a  church  would  be  which  had  this  !  It 
is  itself  victory.  The  men  that  go  into  battle  with  that 
one  firm  resolve,  and  care  for  nothing  else,  are  sure  to 
win.  Think  what  one  man  can  do  who  has  resolved 
to  sell  his  life  dear ! 

Consider  the  worthlessness  of  discipline  without  this. 

It  is  a  poor  mechanical  accuracy.  How  easy  to  have 
too  much  machinery!  How  the  French  Revolution 
men  swept  the  Austrian  martinets  before  them !  David 
was  half-smothered  in  Saul's  armour.  On  the  other 
hand,  this  fervid  flame  needs  control  to  make  it  last 
and  work.  Spirit  and  law  are  not  incompatible. 
Valour  may  be  disciplined,  and  the  combination  is 
irresistible. 

And  so  here,  till  we  exchange  the  close  array  of  the 
battlefield  for  the  open  ranks  of  the  festal  procession 
on  the  Coronation  day,  and  lay  aside  the  helmet  for 
the  crown,  the  sword  for  the  palm,  the  breastplate  for 
the  robe  of  peace,  and  stand  for  ever  before  the  throne, 
in  the  peaceful  ranks  of  *  the  solemn  troops  and  sweet 
societies '  of  the  unwavering  armies  of  the  heavens  who 
serve  Him  with  a  perfect  heart,  and  burn  unconsumed 
with  the  ardours  of  an  immortal  and  ever  brightening 
love,  let  us  see  to  it  that  we  too  are  '  men  that  can  keep 
rank  and  are  not  of  double  heart.' 


DAVID'S  PROHIBITED  DESIRE  AND 
PERMITTED  SERVICE 

'Then  he  called  for  Solomon  his  son,  and  charged  him  to  build  an  house  for  the 
Lord  God  of  Israel.  7.  And  David  said  to  Solomon,  My  son,  as  forme,  it  was  in  my 
mind  to  build  an  house  unto  the  name  of  the  Lord  my  God  :  8.  But  the  word  of  the 
Lord  came  to  me,  saying,  Thou  hast  shed  blood  abundantly,  and  hast  made  great 
wars :  thou  shalt  not  build  an  house  unto  My  name,  because  thou  hast  shed  much 
blood  upon  the  earth  in  My  sight.  9.  Behold,  a  son  shall  be  born  to  thee,  who  shall 
be  a  man  of  rest ;  and  I  will  give  him  rest  from  all  his  enemies  round  about :  for 
his  name  shall  be  Solomon,  and  I  will  give  peace  and  quietness  unto  Israel  in  his 
days.  10.  He  shall  build  an  house  for  My  name ;  and  he  shall  be  My  son,  and  I  will 
be  his  Father ;  and  I  will  establish  the  throne  of  his  kingdom  over  Israel  for  ever. 
11.  Now,  my  son,  the  Lord  be  with  thee ;  and  prosper  thou,  and  build  the  house  of 
the  Lord  thy  God  as  He  hath  said  of  thee.  12.  Only  the  Lord  give  thee  wisdom  and 
understanding,  and  give  thee  charge  concerning  Israel,  that  thou  mayest  keep 
the  law  of  the  Lord  thy  God.  13.  Then  shalt  thou  prosper,  if  thou  takest  heed  to 
fulfil  the  statutes  and  judgments  which  the  Lord  charged  Moses  with  concerning 
Israel :  be  strong,  and  of  good  courage  ;  dread  not,  nor  be  dismayed.  14.  Now,  be- 
hold, in  my  trouble  I  have  prepared  for  the  house  of  the  Lord  an  hundred  thousand 
talents  of  gold,  and  a  thousand  thousand  talents  of  silver ;  and  of  brass  and  iron 
without  weight ;  for  it  is  in  abundance:  timber  also  and  stone  have  I  prepared 
and  thou  mayest  add  thereto.  15.  Moreover,  there  are  workmen  with  thee  in  abun- 
dance, hewers  and  workers  of  stone  and  timber,  and  all  manner  of  cunning  men 
for  every  manner  of  work.  16.  Of  the  gold,  the  silver,  and  the  brass,  and  the  iron, 
there  is  no  number.  Arise,  therefore,  and  be  doing,  and  the  Lord  be  with  thee.' 
—1  Chron.  ixii.  6-16. 

This  passage  falls  into  three  parts.  In  verses  6-10  the 
old  king  tells  of  the  divine  prohibition  which  checked 
his  longing  to  build  the  Temple ;  in  verses  11-13  he 
encourages  his  more  fortunate  successor,  and  points 
him  to  the  only  source  of  strength  for  his  happy  task ; 
in  verses  14-16  he  enumerates  the  preparations  which 
he  had  made,  the  possession  of  which  laid  stringent 
obligations  on  Solomon. 

I.  There  is  a  tone  of  wistf  ulness  in  David's  voice  as 
he  tells  how  his  heart's  desire  had  been  prohibited. 
The  account  is  substantially  the  same  as  we  have  in 
2  Samuel  vii.  4-16,  but  it  adds  as  the  reason  for 
the  prohibition  David's  warlike  career.  We  may  note 
the  earnestness  and  the  motive  of  the  king's  desire  to 
build  the  Temple.  'It  was  in  my  heart';  that  implies 
earnest  longing  and  fixed  purpose.    He  had  brooded 

96 


vs.  6-16]  DAVID'S  PROHIBITED  DESIRE    97 

over  the  wish  till  it  filled  his  mind,  and  was  consoli- 
dated into  a  settled  resolve.  Many  a  musing,  solitary 
moment  had  fed  the  fire  before  it  burned  its  way  out 
in  the  words  addressed  to  Nathan.  So  should  our 
whole  souls  be  occupied  with  our  parts  in  God's 
service,  and  so  should  our  desires  be  strongly  set 
towards  carrying  out  what  in  solitary  meditation  we 
have  felt  borne  in  on  us  as  our  duty. 

The  moving  spring  of  David's  design  is  beautifully 
suggested  in  the  simple  words  'unto  the  name  of  the 
Lord  my  God.'  David's  religion  was  eminently  a  per- 
sonal bond  between  him  and  God.  We  may  almost 
say  that  he  was  the  first  to  give  utterance  to  that  cry 
of  the  devout  heart,  'My  God,'  and  to  translate  the 
generalities  of  the  name  'the  God  of  Israel'  into  the 
individual  appropriation  expressed  by  the  former  de- 
signation. It  occurs  in  many  of  the  psalms  attributed 
to  him,  and  may  fairly  be  regarded  as  a  characteristic 
of  his  ardent  and  individualising  devotion.  The  sense 
of  a  close,  personal  relation  to  God  naturally  prompted 
the  impulse  to  build  His  house.  We  must  claim  our 
own  portion  in  the  universal  blessings  shrined  in  His 
name  before  we  are  moved  to  deeds  of  loving  sacrifice. 
We  must  feel  that  Christ  '  loved  me,  and  gave  Himself 
for  me,'  before  we  are  melted  into  answering  surrender. 

The  reason  for  the  frustrating  of  David's  desire,  as 
here  given,  is  his  career  as  a  warrior  king.  Not  only 
was  it  incongruous  that  hands  which  had  been  reddened 
with  blood  should  rear  the  Temple,  but  the  fact  that 
his  reign  had  been  largely  occupied  with  fighting  for 
the  existence  of  the  kingdom  showed  that  the  time  for 
engaging  in  such  a  work,  which  would  task  the  national 
resources,  had  not  yet  come.  We  may  draw  two  valu- 
able   lessons  from    the  prohibition.      One    is    that  it 

6 


98     FIRST  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [ch.xxii. 

indicates  the  true  character  of  the  kingdom  of  God  as 
a  kingdom  of  peace,  which  is  to  be  furthered,  not  by- 
force,  but  in  peace  and  gentleness.  The  other  is  that 
various  epochs  and  men  have  different  kinds  of  duties 
in  relation  to  Christ's  cause,  some  being  called  on  to 
fight,  and  others  to  build,  and  that  the  one  set  of  tasks 
may  be  as  sacred  and  as  necessary  for  the  rearing  of 
the  Temple  as  the  other.  Militant  epochs  are  not 
usually  times  for  building.  The  men  who  have  to  do 
destructive  work  are  not  usually  blessed  with  the 
opportunity  or  the  power  to  carry  out  constructive 
work.  Controversy  has  its  sphere,  but  it  is  mostly 
preliminary  to  true  '  edification.'  In  the  broadest  view 
all  the  activity  of  the  Church  on  earth  is  militant,  and 
we  have  to  wait  for  the  coming  of  the  true  '  Prince  of 
peace  *  to  build  up  the  true  Temple  in  the  land  of  peace, 
whence  all  foes  have  been  cast  out  for  ever.  To  serve 
God  in  God's  way,  and  to  give  up  our  cherished  plans, 
is  not  easy;  but  David  sets  us  an  example  of  simple- 
hearted,  cheerful  acquiescence  in  a  Providence  that 
thwarted  darling  designs.  There  is  often  much  self- 
will  in  what  looks  like  enthusiastic  perseverance  in 
some  form  of  service. 

II.  The  charge  to  Solomon  breathes  no  envy  of  his 
privilege,  but  earnest  desire  that  he  may  be  worthy  of 
the  honour  which  falls  to  him.  Petitions  and  exhorta- 
tions are  closely  blended  in  it,  and,  though  the  work 
which  Solomon  is  called  to  do  is  of  an  external  sort, 
the  qualifications  laid  down  for  it  are  spiritual  and 
moral.  However  'secular'  our  work  in  connection 
with  God's  service  may  be,  it  will  not  be  rightly  done 
unless  the  highest  motives  are  brought  to  bear  on 
it,  and  it  is  performed  as  worship.  The  basis  of  all 
successful  work  is  God's  presence  with  us,  so  David 


vs.  6-16]  DAVID'S  PROHIBITED  DESIRE    99 

prays  for  that  to  be  granted  to  Solomon  as  the  begin- 
ning of  all  his  fitness  for  his  task. 

Next,  David  recalls  to  his  son  God's  promise  concern- 
ing him,  that  it  may  hearten  him  to  undertake  and  to 
carry  on  the  great  work.  A  conviction  that  our  service 
is  appointed  for  us  by  God  is  essential  for  vigorous  and 
successful  Christian  work.  We  must  have,  in  some 
way  or  other,  heard  Him  '  speak  concerning  us,'  if  we 
are  to  fling  ourselves  with  energy  into  it. 

The  petitions  in  verse  12  seem  to  stretch  beyond  the 
necessities  of  the  case,  in  so  far  as  building  the  Temple 
is  concerned.  Wisdom  and  understanding,  and  a  clear 
consciousness  of  the  duty  enjoined  on  him  by  God  in 
reference  to  Israel,  were  surely  more  than  that  work 
required.  But  the  qualifications  for  God's  service, 
however  the  manner  of  service  may  be  concerned  with 
•  the  outward  business  of  the  house  of  God,'  are  always 
these  which  David  asked  for  Solomon.  The  highest 
result  of  true  'wisdom  and  understanding'  given  by 
God  is  keeping  God's  law;  and  keeping  it  is  the  one 
condition  on  which  we  shall  obtain  and  retain  that 
presence  of  God  with  us  which  David  prayed  for 
Solomon,  and  without  which  they  labour  in  vain  that 
build.  A  life  conformed  to  God's  will  is  the  absolutely 
indispensable  condition  of  all  prosperity  in  direct 
Christian  effort.  The  noblest  exercise  of  our  wisdom 
and  understanding  is  to  obey  every  word  that  we  hear 
proceeding  out  of  the  mouth  of  God. 

III.  There  is  something  very  pathetic  in  the  old 
king's  enumeration  of  the  treasures  which,  by  the 
economies  of  a  lifetime,  he  had  amassed.  The  amount 
stated  is  enormous,  and  probably  there  is  some  clerical 
error  in  the  numbers  specified.  Be  that  as  it  may, 
the  sum  was  very  large.    It  represented  many  an  act 


100  FIRST  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [ch.  xxii. 

of  self-denial,  many  a  resolute  shearing  off  of  super- 
fluities and  what  might  seem  necessaries.  It  was  the 
visible  token  of  long  years  of  fixed  attention  to  one 
object.  And  that  devotion  was  all  the  more  noble 
because  the  result  of  it  was  never  to  be  seen  by  the 
man  who  exercised  it. 

Therein  David  is  but  a  very  conspicuous  example 
of  a  law  which  runs  through  all  our  work  for  God. 
None  of  us  are  privileged  to  perform  completed  tasks. 
'  One  soweth  and  another  reapeth.'  We  have  to  be 
content  to  do  partial  work,  and  to  leave  its  completion 
to  our  successors.  There  is  but  one  Builder  of  whom  it 
can  be  said  that  His  hands  '  have  laid  the  foundation 
of  this  house ;  His  hands  shall  also  finish  it.'  He  who 
is  the  'Alpha  and  Omega,'  and  He  alone,  begins  and 
completes  the  work  in  which  He  has  neither  sharers 
nor  predecessors  nor  successors.  The  rest  of  us  do  our 
little  bit  of  the  great  work  which  lasts  on  through  the 
ages,  and,  having  inherited  unfinished  tasks,  transmit 
them  to  those  who  come  after  us.  It  is  privilege 
enough  for  any  Christian  to  lay  foundations  on  which 
coming  days  may  build.  We  are  like  the  workers  on 
some  great  cathedral,  which  was  begun  long  before  the 
present  generation  of  masons  were  born,  and  will  not 
be  finished  until  long  after  they  have  dropped  trowel 
and  mallet  from  their  dead  hands.  Enough  for  us  if 
we  can  lay  one  course  of  stones  in  that  great  structure. 
The  greater  our  aims,  the  less  share  has  each  man  in 
their  attainment.  But  the  division  of  labour  is  the 
multiplication  of  303%  and  all  who  have  shared  in  the 
toil  will  be  united  in  the  final  triumph.  It  would  be 
poor  work  that  was  capable  of  being  begun  and  per- 
fected in  a  lifetime.  The  labourer  that  dug  and 
levelled  the  track  and  the  engineer  that  drives  the  loco- 


vs.6-16]  DAVID'S  CHARGE  TO  SOLOMON  101 

motive  over  it  are  partners.  Solomon  could  not  have 
built  the  Temple  unless,  through  long,  apparently  idle, 
years,  David  had  been  patiently  gathering  together 
the  wealth  which  he  bequeathed.  So,  if  our  work  is 
but  preparatory  for  that  of  those  who  come  after,  let 
us  not  think  it  of  slight  importance,  and  let  us  be  sure 
that  all  who  have  had  any  portion  in  the  toil  shall 
share  in  the  victory,  that  '  he  that  soweth  and  he  that 
reapeth  may  rejoice  together.' 


DAVID'S  CHARGE  TO  SOLOMON 

'And  David  assembled  all  the  princes  of  Israel,  the  princes  of  the  tribes, 
and  the  captains  of  the  companies  that  ministered  to  the  king  by  course, 
and  the  captains  over  the  thousands,  and  captains  over  the  hundreds,  and 
the  stewards  over  all  the  substance  and  possession  of  the  king,  and  of  his 
sons,  with  the  officers,  and  with  the  mighty  men,  and  with  all  the  valiant  men, 
unto  Jerusalem.  2.  Then  David  the  king  stood  up  upon  his  feet,  and  said.  Hear 
me,  my  brethren,  and  my  people:  As  for  me,  I  had  in  mine  heart  to  build  an 
house  of  rest  for  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of  the  Lord,  and  for  the  footstool  of  our 
God,  and  had  made  ready  for  the  building :  3.  But  God  said  unto  me,  Thou  shalt 
not  build  an  house  for  My  name,  because  thou  hast  been  a  man  of  war,  and  hast 
shed  blood.  4.  Howbeit  the  Lord  God  of  Israel  chose  me  before  all  the  house  of  my 
father  to  be  king  over  Israel  for  ever :  for  He  hath  chosen  Judah  to  be  the  ruler ; 
and  of  the  house  of  Judah,  the  house  of  my  father ;  and  among  the  sons  of  my 
father  He  liked  me  to  make  me  king  over  all  Israel :  5.  And  of  all  my  sons,  (for  the 
Lord  hath  given  me  many  sons,)  he  hath  chosen  Solomon  my  son  to  sit  upon  the 
throne  of  the  kingdom  of  the  Lord  over  Israel.  6.  And  He  said  unto  me,  Solomon 
thy  son,  he  shall  build  My  house  and  My  courts :  for  I  have  chosen  him  to  be  My 
80n,  and  I  will  be  his  father.  7.  Moreover  I  will  establish  his  kingdom  for  ever,  if  he 
be  constant  to  do  My  commandments  and  My  judgments,  as  at  this  day.  8.  Now 
therefore  in  the  sight  of  all  Israel  the  congregation  of  the  Lord,  and  in  the  audience 
of  our  God,  keep  and  seek  for  all  the  commandments  of  the  Lord  your  God :  that 
ye  may  possess  this  good  land,  and  leave  it  for  an  inheritance  for  your  children 
after  you  for  ever.  9.  And  thou,  Solomon  my  son,  know  thou  the  God  of  thy  father, 
and  serve  Him  with  a  perfect  heart  and  with  a  willing  mind :  for  the  Lord 
searcheth  all  hearts,  and  understandeth  all  the  imaginations  of  the  thoughts:  if 
thou  seek  Him,  He  will  be  found  of  thee ;  but  if  thou  forsake  Him,  He  will  cast  thee 
off  for  ever.  10.  Take  heed  now ;  for  the  Lord  hath  chosen  thee  to  build  an  house 
for  the  sanctuary:  be  strong,  and  do  it.'— 1  Chron.  xxviii.  1-10. 

David  had  established  an  elaborate  organisation  of 
royal  officials,  details  of  which  occupy  the  preceding 
chapters  and  interrupt  the  course  of  the  narrative. 
The  passage  picks  up  again  the  thread  dropped  at 
chapter  xxiii.  1.  The  list  of  the  members  of  the  assembly 


102    FIRST  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES    [xxvm. 

called  in  verse  1  is  interesting  as  showing  how  he  tried 
to  amalgamate  the  old  with  the  new.  The  princes  of 
Israel,  the  princes  of  the  tribes,  represented  the 
primitive  tribal  organisation,  and  they  receive  preced- 
ence in  virtue  of  the  antiquity  of  their  office.  Then 
come  successively  David's  immediate  attendants,  the 
military  officials,  the  stewards  of  the  royal  estates,  the 
'  officers '  or  eunuchs  attached  to  the  palace,  and  the 
faithful  '  mighty  men '  who  had  fought  by  the  king's 
side  in  the  old  days.  It  was  an  assembly  of  officials  and 
soldiers  whose  adherence  to  Solomon  it  was  all-im- 
portant to  secure,  especially  in  regard  to  the  project  for 
building  the  Temple,  which  could  not  be  carried  through 
without  their  active  support.  The  passage  comprises 
only  the  beginning  of  the  proceedings  of  this  assembly 
of  notables.  The  end  is  told  in  the  next  chapter ;  namely, 
that  the  Temple- building  scheme  was  unanimously  and 
enthusiastically  adopted,  and  large  donations  given  for 
it,  and  that  Solomon's  succession  was  accepted,  and 
loyal  submission  offered  by  the  assembly  to  him. 

David's  address  to  this  gathering  is  directed  to  secure 
these  two  points.  He  begins  by  recalling  his  own  in- 
tention to  build  the  Temple  and  God's  prohibition  of  it. 
The  reason  for  that  prohibition  differs  from  that  alleged 
by  Nathan,  but  there  is  no  contradiction  between  the 
two  narratives,  and  the  chronicler  has  already  reported 
Nathan's  words  (chap.  xvii.  3,  etc.),  so  that  the  motive 
which  is  ascribed  to  many  of  the  variations  in  this  book, 
a  priestly  desire  to  exalt  Temple  and  ritual,  cannot  have 
been  at  work  here.  Why  should  there  not  have  been  a 
divine  communication  to  David  as  well  as  Nathan's 
message  ?  That  hands  reddened  with  blood,  even  though 
it  had  been  shed  in  justifiable  war,  were  not  fitted  to 
build  the  T«mple,  was  a  thought  so  far  in  advance  of 


V8.1-10]  DAVID  S  CHARGE  TO  SOLOMON  103 

David's  time,  and  flowing  from  so  spiritual  a  concep- 
tion of  God,  that  it  may  well  have  been  breathed  into 
David's  spirit  by  a  divine  voice.  Sword  in  one  hand 
and  trowel  in  the  other  are  incongruous,  notwithstand- 
ing Nehemiah's  example.  The  Temple  of  the  God  of 
peace  cannot  be  built  except  by  men  of  peace.  That  is 
true  in  the  widest  and  highest  application.  Jesus  builds 
the  true  Temple.  Controversy  and  strife  do  not.  And, 
on  a  lower  level,  the  prohibition  is  for  ever  valid.  Men 
do  not  atone  for  a  doubtful  past  by  building  churches, 
founding  colleges,  endowing  religious  or  charitable 
institutions. 

The  speech  next  declares  emphatically  that  the  throne 
belongs  to  David  and  his  descendants  by  real  '  divine 
right,'  and  that  God's  choice  is  Solomon,  who  is  to 
inherit  both  the  promises  and  obligations  of  the  office, 
and,  among  the  latter,  that  of  building  the  Temple. 
The  unspoken  inference  is  that  loyalty  to  Solomon 
would  be  obedience  to  Jehovah.  The  connection  be- 
tween the  true  heavenly  King  and  His  earthly  repre- 
sentative is  strongly  expressed  in  the  remarkable 
phrase :  '  He  hath  chosen  Solomon  ...  to  sit  upon  the 
throne  of  the  kingdom  of  Jehovah,'  which  both  con- 
secrates and  limits  the  rule  of  Solomon,  making  him 
but  the  viceroy  of  the  true  king  of  Israel.  When 
Israel's  kings  remembered  that,  they  flourished ;  when 
they  forgot  it,  they  destroyed  their  kingdom  and  them- 
selves. The  principle  is  as  true  to-day,  and  it  applies 
to  all  forms  of  influence,  authority,  and  gifts.  They 
are  God's,  and  we  are  but  stewards. 

The  address  to  the  assembly  ends  with  the  exhorta- 
tion to  these  leaders  to  '  observe,'  and  not  merely  to 
observe,  but  also  to  '  seek  out '  God's  commandments, 
and  so  to  secure  to  the  nation,  whom  they  could  guide, 


104    FIRST  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES    [xxviii. 

peaceful  and  prosperous  days.  It  is  not  enough  to  do 
God's  will  as  far  as  we  know  it ;  we  must  ever  be  en- 
deavouring after  clearer,  deeper  insight  into  it.  Would 
that  these  words  were  written  over  the  doors  of  all 
Senate  and  Parliament  houses!  What  a  different 
England  we  should  see ! 

But  Solomon  was  present  as  well  as  the  notables,  and 
it  was  well  that,  in  their  hearing,  he  should  be  reminded 
of  his  duties.  David  had  previously  in  private  taught 
him  these,  but  this  public  '  charge '  before  the  chief  men 
of  the  kingdom  bound  them  more  solemnly  upon  him, 
and  summoned  a  cloud  of  witnesses  against  him  if  he 
fell  below  the  high  ideal.  It  is  pitched  on  a  lofty  key 
of  spiritual  religion,  for  it  lays  '  Know  thou  the  God  of 
thy  fathers'  as  the  foundation  of  everything.  That 
knowledge  is  no  mere  intellectual  apprehension,  but, 
as  always  in  Scripture,  personal  acquaintanceship  with 
a  Person,  which  involves  communion  with  Him  and  love 
towards  Him.  For  us,  too,  it  is  the  seed  of  all  strenuous 
discharge  of  our  life's  tasks,  whether  we  are  rulers  or 
nobodies,  and  it  means  a  much  deeper  experience  than 
understanding  or  giving  assent  to  a  set  of  truths  about 
God.  We  know  one  another  when  we  summer  and 
winter  with  each  other,  and  not  unless  we  love  one 
another,  and  we  know  God  on  no  other  terms. 

After  such  knowledge  comes  an  outward  life  of 
service.  Active  obedience  is  the  expression  of  inward 
communion,  love,  and  trust.  The  spring  that  moves 
the  hands  on  the  dial  is  love,  and,  if  the  hands  do  not 
move,  there  is  something  wrong  with  the  spring. 
Morality  is  the  garment  of  religion;  religion  is  the 
animating  principle  of  morality.  Faith  without  works 
is  dead,  and  works  without  faith  are  dead  too. 

But  even  when  we  '  know  God '  we  have  to  make 


vs.1-10]  DAVID'S  CHARGE  TO  SOLOMON  105 

efforts  to  have  our  service  correspond  with  our  know- 
ledge, for  we  have  wayward  hearts  and  obstinate  wills, 
which  need  to  be  stimulated,  sometimes  to  be  coerced 
and  forcibly  diverted  from  unworthy  objects.  There- 
fore the  exhortation  to  serve  God  '  with  a  perfect  heart 
and  with  a  willing  mind '  is  always  needful  and  often 
hard.  Entire  surrender  and  glad  obedience  are  the 
Christian  ideal,  and  continual  effort  to  approximate  to 
it  will  be  ours  in  the  degree  in  which  we  '  know  God.' 
There  is  no  worse  slavery  than  that  of  the  half-hearted 
Christian  whose  yoke  is  not  padded  with  love.  Re- 
luctant obedience  is  disobedience  in  God's  sight. 

David  solemnly  reminds  Solomon  of  those  '  pure  eyes 
and  perfect  judgment,'  not  to  frighten,  but  to  enforce 
the  thought  of  the  need  for  whole-hearted  and  glad 
service,  and  of  the  worthlessness  of  external  acts  of 
apparent  worship  which  have  not  such  behind  them. 
What  a  deal  of  seeming  wheat  would  turn  out  to  be 
chaff  if  that  winnowing  fan  which  is  in  Christ's  hand 
were  applied  to  it !  How  small  our  biggest  heaps  would 
become ! 

The  solemn  conditions  of  the  continuance  of  God's 
favour  and  of  the  fulfilment  of  His  promises  are  next 
plainly  stated.  God  responds  to  our  state  of  heart  and 
mind.  We  determine  His  bearing  to  us.  The  seeker 
finds.  If  we  move  away  from  Him,  He  moves  aw^ay  from 
us.  That  is  not,  thank  God!  all  the  truth,  or  what 
would  become  of  any  of  us  ?  But  it  is  true,  and  in  a 
very  solemn  sense  God  is  to  us  what  we  make  Him. 
'  With  the  pure  Thou  wilt  show  Thyself  pure ;  and  with 
the  perverse  Thou  wilt  show  Thyself  froward.' 

The  charge  ends  with  recalling  the  high  honour  and 
office  to  which  Jehovah  had  designated  Solomon,  and 
with  exhortations  to  '  take  heed '  and  to  *  be  strong,  and 


106  FIRST  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [ch.  xxix. 

do  it.'  It  is  well  for  a  young  man  to  begin  life  with  a 
high  ideal  of  what  he  is  called  to  be  and  do.  But  many 
of  us  have  that,  and  miserably  fail  to  realise  it,  for 
want  of  these  two  characteristics,  which  the  sight  of 
such  an  ideal  ought  to  stamp  on  us.  If  we  are  to  fulfil 
God's  purposes  with  us,  and  to  be  such  tools  as  He  can 
use  for  building  His  true  Temple,  we  must  exercise  self- 
control  and  '  take  heed  to  our  ways,'  and  we  must  brace 
ourselves  against  opposition  and  crush  down  our  own 
timidity.  It  seems  to  be  commanding  an  impossibility 
to  say  to  a  weak  creature  like  any  one  of  us,  •  Be 
strong,'  but  the  impossible  becomes  a  possibility  when 
the  exhortation  takes  the  full  Christian  form :  *  Be 
strong  in  the  Lord,  and  in  the  power  of  His  might.' 


THE  WAVES  OF  TIME 

*  The  times  that  went  over  him.'—!  Chbon.  xxix.  30. 

This  is  a  fragment  from  the  chronicler's  close  of  his 
life  of  King  David.  He  is  referring  in  it  to  other 
written  authorities  in  which  there  are  fuller  particulars 
concerning  his  hero;  and  he  says,  'the  acts  of  David 
the  King,  first  and  last,  behold  they  are  written  in  the 
book  of  Samuel  the  seer  .  .  .  with  all  his  reign  and  his 
might,  and  the  times  that  went  over  him,  and  over  all 
Israel,  and  over  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  countries.' 

Now  I  have  ventured  to  isolate  these  words,  because 
they  seem  to  me  to  suggest  some  very  solemn  and 
stimulating  thoughts  about  the  true  nature  of  life. 
They  refer,  originally,  to  the  strange  vicissitudes  and 
extremes  of  fortune  and  condition  which  characterised, 
so  dramatically  and  remarkably,  the  life  of  King 
David.    Shepherd-boy,  soldier,  court  favourite,  outlaw, 


V.  30]  THE  WAVES  OF  TIME  107 

freebooter  and  all  but  brigand;  rebel,  king,  fugitive, 
saint,  sinner,  psalmist,  penitent — he  lived  a  life  full  of 
strongly  marked  alternations,  and  *  the  times  that  went 
over  him '  were  singularly  separate  and  different  from 
each  other.  There  are  very  few  of  us  who  have  such 
chequered  lives  as  his.  But  the  principle  which  dic- 
tated the  selection  by  the  chronicler  of  this  somewhat 
strange  phrase  is  true  about  the  life  of  every  man. 

I.  Note,  first,  *  the  times '  which  make  up  each  life. 

Now,  by  the  phrase  here  the  writer  does  not  merely 
mean  the  succession  of  moments,  but  he  wishes  to 
emphasise  the  view  that  these  are  epochs,  sections  of 
'time,'  each  with  its  definite  characteristics  and  its 
special  opportunities,  unlike  the  rest  that  lie  on  either 
side  of  it.  The  great  broad  field  of  time  is  portioned 
out,  like  the  strips  of  peasant  allotments,  which  show 
a  little  bit  here,  with  one  kind  of  crop  upon  it,  bordered 
by  another  little  morsel  of  ground  bearing  another 
kind  of  crop.  So  the  whole  is  patchy,  and  yet  all 
harmonises  in  effect  if  we  look  at  it  from  high  enough 
up.  Thus  each  life  is  made  up  of  a  series,  not  merely 
of  successive  moments,  but  of  well-marked  epochs,  each 
of  which  has  its  own  character,  its  own  responsibilities, 
its  own  opportunities,  in  each  of  which  there  is  some 
special  work  to  be  done,  some  grace  to  be  cultivated, 
some  lesson  to  be  learned,  some  sacrifice  to  be  made ; 
and  if  it  is  let  slip  it  never  comes  back  any  more.  *  It 
might  have  been  once,  and  we  missed  it,  and  lost  it 
for  ever.'  The  times  pass  over  us,  and  every  single 
portion  has  its  own  errand  to  us.  Unless  we  are  wide 
awake  we  let  it  slip,  and  are  the  poorer  to  all  eternity 
for  not  having  had  in  our  heads  the  eyes  of  the  wise 
man  which  'discern  both  time  and  judgment.'  It  is 
the  same  thought  which  is   suggested   by  the  well- 


108  FIRST  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [ch.xxix. 

known  words  of  the  cynical  book  of  Ecclesiastes — '  To 
every  thing  there  is  a  season  and  a  time ' — an  oppor- 
tunity, and  a  definite  period — '  for  every  purpose  that 
is  under  the  sun.'  It  is  the  same  thought  which  is 
suggested  by  Paul's  words,  'As  we  have  therefore 
opportunity,  let  us  do  good  to  all  men.  In  due  season 
we  shall  reap  if  we  faint  not.'  There  is  'a  time  for 
weeping  and  a  time  for  laughing,  a  time  for  building 
up  and  a  time  for  casting  down.'  It  is  the  same 
thought  of  life,  and  its  successive  epochs  of  oppor- 
tunity never  returning,  which  finds  expression  in  the 
threadbare  lines  about  'a  tide  in  the  affairs  of  men, 
which,  taken  at  the  flood,  leads  on  to  fortune,'  and 
neglected,  condemns  the  rest  of  a  career  to  be  hemmed 
in  among  creeks  and  shallows. 

Through  all  the  variety  of  human  occupations,  each 
moment  comes  to  us  with  its  own  special  mission,  and 
yet,  alas !  to  far  too  many  of  us  the  alternations  do  not 
suggest  the  question,  what  is  it  that  I  am  hereby  called 
upon  to  be  or  to  do?  what  is  the  lesson  that  present 
circumstances  are  meant  to  teach,  and  the  grace  that 
my  present  condition  is  meant  to  force  me  to  cultivate 
or  exhibit  ?  There  is  one  point,  as  it  were,  upon  the  road 
where  we  may  catch  a  view  far  away  into  the  distance, 
and,  if  we  are  not  on  the  lookout  when  we  come  there, 
we  shall  never  get  that  glimpse  at  any  other  point 
along  the  path.  The  old  alchemists  used  to  believe 
that  there  was  what  they  called  the  •  moment  of  pro- 
jection,' when,  into  the  heaving  molten  mass  in  their 
crucible,  if  they  dropped  the  magic  powder,  the  whole 
would  turn  into  gold ;  an  instant  later  and  there  would 
be  explosion  and  death;  an  instant  earlier  and  there 
would  be  no  effect.  And  so  God's  moments  come  to 
us ;  every  one  of  them — if  we  had  eyes  to  see  and  hands 


V.30]  THE  WAVES  OF  TIME  109 

to  grasp- -a  crisis,  affording  opportunity  for  something 
for  which  all  eternity  will  not  afford  a  second  oppor- 
tunity, if  the  moment  be  let  pass.  'The  times  went 
over  him,'  and  your  life  and  mine  is  parcelled  out  into 
seasons  which  have  their  special  vocation  for  and 
message  to  us. 

How  solemn  that  makes  our  life!  How  it  destroys 
the  monotony  that  we  sometimes  complain  of !  How 
it  heightens  the  low  things  and  magnifies  the  appa- 
rently small  ones!  And  how  it  calls  upon  us  for  a 
sharpened  attention,  that  we  miss  not  any  of  the 
blessings  and  gifts  which  God  is  meaning  to  bestow 
upon  us  through  the  ministry  of  each  moment !  How 
it  calls  upon  us  for  not  only  sharpened  attention,  but 
for  a  desire  to  know  the  meaning  of  each  of  the  hours 
and  of  every  one  of  His  providences !  And  how  it  bids 
us,  as  the  only  condition  of  understanding  the  times, 
so  as  to  know  what  we  ought  to  do,  to  keep  our  hearts 
in  close  union  with  Him,  and  ourselves  ever  standing, 
as  becomes  servants,  girded  and  ready  for  work ;  and 
with  the  question  on  our  lips  and  in  our  hearts,  *  Lord, 
what  wouldst  Thou  have  me  to  do  ?  and  what  wouldst 
Thou  have  me  to  do  now  ? '  The  lesson  of  the  day  has 
to  be  learned  in  a  day,  and  at  the  moment  when  it 
is  put  in  practice. 

II.  Another  thought  suggested  by  this  text  is,  the 
Power  that  moves  the  times. 

As  far  as  my  text  represents — and  it  is  not  intended 
to  go  to  the  bottom  of  everything — these  times  flow 
on  over  a  man,  as  a  river  might.  But  is  there  any 
power  that  moves  the  stream  ?  Unthinking  and  sense- 
bound  men — and  we  are  all  such,  in  the  measure  in 
which  we  are  unspiritual — are  contented  simply  to 
accept  the  mechanical  flow  of  the  stream  of  time.    We 


110  FIRST  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [ch.xxix. 

are  all  tempted  not  to  look  behind  the  moving  screen 
to  see  the  force  that  turns  the  wheel  on  which  the 
painted  scene  is  stretched.  But,  Oh!  how  dreary  a 
thing  it  is  if  all  that  we  have  to  say  about  life  is, 
•The  times  pass  over  us,'  like  the  blind  rush  of  a 
stream,  or  the  movement  of  the  sea  around  our  coasts, 
eating  away  here  and  depositing  its  spoils  there,  some- 
times taking  and  sometimes  giving,  but  all  the  work 
of  mere  eyeless  and  purposeless  chance  or  of  natural 
causes. 

Oh,  brethren!  there  is  nothing  more  dismal  or 
paralysing  than  the  contemplation  of  the  flow  of  the 
times  over  our  heads,  unless  we  see  in  their  flow 
something  far  more  than  that. 

It  is  very  beautiful  to  notice  that  this  same  phrase, 
or  at  least  the  essential  part  of  it,  is  employed  in 
one  of  the  Psalms  ascribed  to  David,  with  a  very  sig- 
nificant addition.  He  says,  'My  times  are  in  Thy 
hand.'  So,  then,  the  passage  of  our  epochs  over  us 
is  not  merely  the  aimless  flow  of  a  stream,  but  the 
movement  of  a  current  which  God  directs.  Therefore, 
if  at  any  time  it  goes  over  our  heads  and  seems  to 
overwhelm  us,  we  can  look  up  through  the  transparent 
water  and  say,  *  Thy  waves  and  Thy  billows  have  gone 
over  me,'  and  so  I  die  not  of  suffocation  beneath 
them.  God  orders  the  times,  and  therefore,  though, 
as  the  bitter  ingenuity  of  Ecclesiastes,  on  the  lookout 
for  proofs  of  the  vanity  of  life,  complained,  in  a  one- 
sided view,  as  an  aggravation  of  man's  lot,  that  there 
is  a  time  for  everything,  yet  that  aspect  of  change  is  not 
its  deepest  or  truest.  True  it  is  that  sometimes  birth 
and  sometimes  death,  sometimes  joy  and  sometimes 
sorrow,  sometimes  building  up  and  sometimes  casting 
down,  follow  each  other  with  monotonous  uniformity 


V.30]  THE  WAVES  OF  TIME  111 

of  variety,  and  seem  to  reduce  life  to  a  perpetual 
heaping  up  of  what  is  as  painfully  to  be  cast  down 
the  next  moment,  like  the  pitiless  sport  of  the  wind 
amongst  the  sandhills  of  the  desert.  But  the  futility 
is  only  apparent,  and  the  changes  are  not  meant  to 
occasion  'man's  misery'  to  be  'great  upon  him,'  as 
Ecclesiastes  says  they  do.  The  diversity  of  the  '  times ' 
comes  from  a  unity  of  purpose;  and  all  the  various 
methods  of  the  divine  Providence  exercised  upon  us 
have  one  unchanging  intention.  The  meaning  of  all 
the  *  times '  is  that  they  should  bring  us  nearer  to  God, 
and  fill  us  more  full  of  His  power  and  grace.  The 
web  is  one,  however  various  may  be  the  pattern 
wrought  upon  the  tapestry.  The  resulting  motion  of 
the  great  machine  is  one,  though  there  may  be  a  wheel 
turning  from  left  to  right  here,  and  another  one  that 
fits  into  it,  turning  from  right  to  left  there.  The  end 
of  all  the  opposite  motions  is  straight  progress.  So 
the  varying  times  do  all  tend  to  the  one  great  issue. 
Therefore  let  us  seek  to  pursue,  in  all  varying  circum- 
stances, the  one  purpose  which  God  has  in  them  all, 
which  the  Apostle  states  to  be  'even  your  sanctifica- 
tion,'  and  let  us  understand  how  summer  and  winter, 
springtime  and  harvest,  tempest  and  fair  weather,  do 
all  together  make  up  the  year,  and  ensure  the  springing 
of  the  seed  and  the  fruitfulness  of  the  stalk. 

III.  Lastly,  let  me  remind  you,  too,  how  eloquently 
the  words  of  my  text  suggest  the  transiency  of  all 
the  '  times.' 

They  'passed  over  him'  as  the  wind  through  an 
archway,  that  whistles  and  comes  not  again.  The 
old,  old  thought,  so  threadbare  and  yet  always  so 
solemnising  and  pathetic,  which  we  know  so  well  that 
we  forget  it,  and  are  so  sure  of  that  it  has  little  effect 


112  FIRST  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [ch.xxix. 

on  life,  the  old,  old  thought,  '  this  too  will  pass  away,' 
underlies  the  phrase  of  my  text. 

How  blessed  it  is,  brethren !  to  cherish  that  whole- 
some sense  of  the  transiency  of  things  here  below, 
only  those  who  live  under  its  habitual  power  can 
fairly  estimate.  It  is  thought  to  be  melancholy.  We 
are  told  that  it  spoils  joys  and  kills  interest,  and  I 
know  not  what  beside.  It  spoils  no  joys  that  ought 
to  be  joys.  It  kills  no  interests  that  are  not  on  other 
grounds  unworthy  to  be  cherished.  Contrariwise,  the 
more  fully  we  are  penetrated  with  the  persistent  con- 
viction of  the  transiency  of  the  things  seen  and 
temporal,  the  greater  they  become,  by  a  strange 
paradox.  For  then  only  are  they  seen  in  their  true 
magnitude  and  nobility,  in  their  true  solemnity  and 
importance  as  having  a  bearing  on  the  things  that 
are  eternal.  Time  is  the  '  ceaseless  lackey  of  eternity,' 
and  the  things  that  pass  over  us  may  become,  like 
the  waves  of  the  sea,  the  means  of  bearing  us  to  the 
unmoving  shore.  Oh !  if  only  in  the  midst  of  joys  and 
sorrows,  of  heavy  tasks  and  corroding  cares,  of  weary 
work  and  wounded  spirits,  we  could  feel,  'but  for  a 
moment,'  all  would  be  different,  and  joy  would  come, 
and  strength  would  come,  and  patience  would  come, 
and  every  grace  would  come,  in  the  train  of  the  whole- 
some conviction  that  'here  we  have  no  continuing 
city.' 

Cherish  the  thought.  It  will  spoil  nothing  the 
spoiling  of  which  will  be  a  loss.  It  will  heighten 
everything  the  possession  of  which  is  a  gain.  It  will 
teach  us  to  trust  in  the  darkness,  and  to  believe  in 
the  light.  And  when  the  times  are  dreariest,  and  frost 
binds  the  ground,  we  shall  say,  '  If  winter  comes,  can 
spring  be  far  behind?'    The  times  roll  over  us,  like 


V.30]  THE  WAVES  OF  TIME  113 

the  seas  that  break  upon  some  isolated  rock,  and  when 
the  tide  has  fallen  and  the  vain  flood  has  subsided, 
the  rock  is  there.  If  the  world  helps  us  to  God,  we 
need  not  mind  though  it  passes,  and  the  fashion 
thereof. 

But  do  not  let  us  forget  that  this  text  in  its  con- 
nection may  teach  us  another  thought.  The  tran- 
sitory 'times  that  went  over'  Israel's  king  are  all 
recorded  imperishably  on  the  pages  here,  and  so, 
though  condensed  into  narrow  space,  the  record  of  the 
fleeting  moments  lives  for  ever,  and  'the  books  shall 
be  opened,  and  men  shall  be  judged  according  to  their 
works.'  We  are  writing  an  imperishable  record  by 
our  fleeting  deeds.  Half  a  dozen  pages  carry  all  the 
story  of  that  stormy  life  of  Israel's  king.  It  takes  a 
thousand  rose-trees  to  make  a  vial  full  of  essence  of 
roses.  The  record  and  issues  of  life  will  be  condensed 
into  small  compass,  but  the  essence  of  it  is  eternal. 
We  shall  find  it  again,  and  have  to  drink  as  we  have 
brewed  when  we  get  yonder.  'Be  not  deceived,  God 
is  not  mocked,  for  whatsoever  a  man  soweth  that 
shall  he  also  reap.'  *  There  is  a  time  to  sow,'  and  that 
is  the  present  life;  'and  there  is  a  time  to  gather 
the  fruits'  of  our  sowing,  and  that  is  the  time  when 
times  have  ended  and  eternity  is  here. 


THE  SECOND   BOOK   OF   CHRONICLES 
THE  DUTY  OF  EVERY  DAY 

'  Then  Solomon  offered  burnt  offerings  unto  the  Lord  .  .  .  Even  after  a  certain 
rate  every  day.'— (A.V.) 

*  Then  Solomon  offered  burnt  offerings  unto  the  Lord,  even  as  the  duty  ol  every 
day  required  it.'— 2  Chron.  viii.  12-13  (R.V.). 

This  is  a  description  of  the  elaborate  provision,  in 
accordance  with  the  commandment  of  Moses,  which 
Solomon  made  for  the  worship  in  his  new  Temple.  The 
writer  is  enlarging  on  the  precise  accordance  of  the 
ritual  with  the  regulations  laid  down  in  the  law.  He 
expresses,  by  the  phrase  which  we  have  taken  as  our 
text,  not  only  the  accordance  of  the  worship  with  the 
commandment,  but  its  unbroken  continuity,  and  also 
the  variety  in  it,  according  to  the  regulations  for 
different  days.  For  the  verse  runs  on, '  on  the  Sabbaths, 
and  on  the  new  moons,  and  on  the  solemn  feasts,  three 
times  in  the  year,  even  in  the  Feast  of  unleavened 
bread,  and  in  the  Feast  of  weeks,  and  in  the  Feast  of 
Tabernacles.'  There  were,  then,  these  characteristics 
in  the  ritual  of  Solomon's  Temple,  precise  compliance 
with  the  Divine  commandment,  unbroken  continuity, 
and  beautiful  flexibility  and  variety  of  method. 

But  passing  altogether  from  the  original  application 
of  the  words,  I  venture  to  do  now  what  I  very  seldom 
do,  and  that  is,  to  take  this  verse  as  a  kind  of  motto. 
'Even  according  as  the  duty  of  every  day  required'; 
the  phrase   may  suggest  three  thoughts :  that   each 


vs.  12. 13]    THE  DUTY  OF  EVERY  DAY    115 

day  has  its  own  work,  its  own  worship,  and  its  own 
supplies,  •  even  as  the  duty  of  every  day  required.' 

Each  day  has  its  own  work. 

Of  course  there  is  a  great  uniformity  in  our  lives, 
and  many  of  us  who  are  set  down  to  one  continuous 
occupation  can  tell  twelve  months  before  what,  in  all 
probability,  we  shall  be  doing  at  each  hour  of  each  day 
in  the  week.  But  for  all  that,  there  is  a  certain  indi- 
vidual physiognomy  about  each  new  day  as  it  comes  to 
us ;  and  the  oldest,  most  habitual,  and  therefore  in 
some  degree  easiest  and  least  stimulating,  work  has  its 
own  special  characteristics  as  it  comes  again  to  us  day 
by  day  for  the  hundredth  time. 

So  there  are  three  pieces  of  practical  wisdom  that 
I  would  suggest,  and  one  is — be  content  to  take  your 
work  in  little  bits  as  it  comes.  There  is  a  great  deal 
of  practical  wisdom  in  taking  short  views  of  things, 
for  although  we  have  often  to  look  ahead,  yet  it  is 
better  on  the  whole  that  a  man  should,  as  far  as  he 
can,  confine  his  anticipations  to  the  day  that  is  passing, 
and  leave  the  day  that  is  coming  to  look  after  itself. 
Take  short  views  and  be  content  to  let  each  day  pre- 
scribe its  tasks,  and  you  have  gone  a  long  way  to  make 
all  your  days  quiet  and  peaceful.  For  it  is  far  more 
the  anticipation  of  difficulties  than  the  realisation  of 
them  that  wears  and  wearies  us.  If  a  man  says  to  him- 
self, 'This  sorrow  that  I  am  carrying,  or  this  work  that 
I  have  to  do,  is  going  to  last  for  many  days  to  come,' 
his  heart  will  fail.  If  he  said  to  himself, '  It  will  be  no 
worse  to-morrow  than  it  is  at  this  moment,  and  I  can 
live  through  it,  for  am  I  not  living  through  it  at  this 
moment,  and  getting  power  to  endure  or  do  at  this 
moment  ?  and  to-morrow  will  probably  be  like  to- 
day,' things  would  not  be  so  difficult. 


116   SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES   [viii. 

You  remember  the  homely  old  parable  of  the  clock 
on  the  stair  that  gave  up  ticking  altogether  because 
it  began  to  calculate  how  many  thousands  of  seconds 
there  are  in  the  year,  and  that  twice  that  number 
of  times  it  would  have  to  wag  backwards  and  forwards. 
The  lesson  that  it  learned  was — tick  one  tick  and  never 
mind  the  next.  You  will  be  able  to  do  it  when  the 
time  to  do  it  comes.  Let  us  act  '  as  the  duty  of  every 
day  requireth.'  '  Sufficient  for  the  day  is  the  work 
thereof.' 

Then  there  is  another  piece  of  advice  from  this 
thought  of  each  day  having  its  own  work,  and  that  is 
— keep  your  ears  open,  and  your  eyes  too,  to  learn 
the  lesson  of  what  the  day's  work  is.  There  is  gene- 
rally abundance  of  direction  for  us  if  only  we  are 
content  with  the  one-step-at-a-time  direction,  which  we 
get,  and  if  another  condition  is  fulfilled,  if  we  try  to 
suppress  our  own  wishes  and  the  noisy  babble  of  our 
own  yelping  inclinations,  and  take  the  whip  to  them 
until  they  cease  their  barking,  that  we  may  hear  what 
God  says.  It  is  not  because  He  does  not  speak,  but 
because  we  are  too  anxious  to  have  our  own  way  to 
listen  quietly  to  His  voice,  that  we  make  most  of  our 
blunders  as  to  what  the  duty  of  every  day  requires.  If 
we  will  be  still  and  listen,  and  stand  in  the  attitude  of  the 
boy-prophet  before  the  glimmering  lamp  in  the  sacred 
place,  saying,  '  Speak,  Lord !  for  Thy  servant  heareth,' 
we  shall  get  sufficient  instruction  for  our  next  step. 

Another  piece  of  practical  wisdom  that  I  would 
suggest  is  that  if  every  day  has  its  own  work,  we 
should  buckle  ourselves  to  do  the  day's  work  before 
night  falls  and  not  leave  any  over  for  to-morrow, 
which  will  be  quite  full  enough.  '  Do  the  duty  that 
lies  nearest  thee,'  was  the  preaching  of  one  of  our  sages, 


vs.  12, 13]     THE  DUTY  OF  EVERY  DAY    117 

and  it  is  wholesome  advice.  For  when  we  do  that  duty, 
the  doing  of  it  has  a  wonderful  power  of  opening  up 
further  steps,  and  showing  us  more  clearly  what  is  the 
next  duty.  Only  let  us  be  sure  of  this,  that  no  moment 
comes  from  God  which  has  not  in  it  boundless  possi- 
bilities ;  and  that  no  moment  comes  from  God  which 
has  not  in  it  stringent  obligations.  We  neither  avail 
ourselves  of  the  one,  nor  discharge  the  other,  unless  we 
come,  morning  by  morning,  to  the  new  day  that  is 
dawning  upon  us,  with  some  fresh  consciousness  of  the 
large  issues  that  may  be  wrapped  in  its  unseen  hours, 
and  the  great  things  for  Him  that  we  may  do  ere  its 
evening  falls. 

Each  day  has  its  tasks,  and  if  we  do  not  do  the  tasks 
of  each  day  in  its  day,  we  shall  fling  away  life.  If 
a  man  had  £100,000  for  a  fortune,  and  turned  it  all 
into  halfpence,  and  tossed  them  out  of  the  window, 
he  could  soon  get  rid  of  his  whole  fortune.  And  if  you 
fling  away  your  moments  or  live  without  the  conscious- 
ness of  their  solemn  possibilities  and  mystic  awf ulness, 
you  will  find  at  the  last  that  you  have  made  '  ducks  and 
drakes'  of  your  years,  and  have  flung  them  away  in 
moments  without  knowing  what  you  were  doing,  and 
without  possibility  of  recovery.  'Take  care  of  the 
pence,  the  pounds  will  take  care  of  themselves.'  Take 
care  of  the  days,  and  the  years  will  show  a  fair 
record. 

Secondly,  we  have  here  the  suggestion  that  every  day 
has  its  own  worship. 

As  I  remarked  at  the  beginning  of  my  observations, 
the  chronicler  dwells,  with  a  certain  kind  of  satisfac- 
tion, in  accordance  with  the  tone  of  his  whole  writings, 
upon  the  external  ritual  of  the  Temple ;  and  points 
out  its  entire  conformity  with  the  divine  precept,  and 


118   SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES   [vm. 

the  unbroken  continuity  of  worship  day  after  day, 
year  in  year  out,  and  the  variation  of  the  character- 
istics of  that  worship  according  as  the  day  was  more 
or  less  ritually  important.  From  his  words  we  may 
deduce  a  very  needful  though  obvious  and  common- 
place lesson.  What  we  want  is  every-day  religion, 
and  that  every-day  religion  is  the  only  thing  that  will 
enable  us  to  do  what  the  duty  of  every  day  requires. 
But  that  every-day  religion  which  will  be  our  best  ally, 
and  power  for  the  discharge  of  the  obligations  that 
each  moment  brings  with  it,  must  have  its  points  of 
support,  as  it  were,  in  special  moments  and  methods 
of  worship. 

So,  then,  take  that  first  thought :  What  we  want  is 
a  religion  that  will  go  all  through  our  lives.  A  great 
many  of  you  keep  your  religion  where  you  keep  your 
best  clothes :  putting  it  on  on  Sunday  and  locking  it 
away  on  the  Sunday  night  in  a  wardrobe  because  it 
is  not  the  dress  that  you  go  to  work  in.  And  some  of 
you  keep  your  religion  in  your  pew,  and  lock  it  up  in 
the  little  box  where  you  put  your  hymn-books  and 
your  Bibles,  which  you  read  only  once  a  week,  de- 
voting yourselves  to  ledgers  or  novels  and  newspapers 
for  the  rest  of  your  time.  We  want  a  religion  that 
will  go  all  through  our  life  ;  and  if  there  is  anything  in 
our  life  that  will  not  stand  its  presence,  the  sooner 
we  get  rid  of  that  element  the  better.  A  mountain 
road  has  generally  a  living  brooklet  leaping  and  flash- 
ing by  the  side  of  it.  So  our  lives  will  be  dusty  and 
dead  and  cold  and  poor  and  prosaic  unless  that  river 
runs  along  by  the  roadside  and  makes  music  for  us  as 
it  flows.  Take  your  religion  wherever  you  go.  If  you 
cannot  take  it  in  to  any  scenes  or  company,  stop  you 
outside. 


vs.  12, 13]    THE  DUTY  OF  EVERY  DAY    119 

There  is  nothing  that  will  help  a  man  to  do  his  day's 
work  so  much  as  the  realisation  of  Christ's  Presence. 
And  that  realisation,  along  with  its  certain  results, 
devotion  of  heart  to  Him  and  submission  of  will  to  His 
commandment,  and  desire  to  shape  our  lives  to  be  like 
His,  will  make  us  masters  of  all  circumstances  and 
strong  enough  for  the  hardest  work  that  God  can  lay 
upon  us. 

There  is  nothing  so  sure  to  make  life  beautiful,  and 
noble,  and  pure,  and  peaceful,  and  strong  as  this — the 
application  to  its  monotonous  trifles  of  religious  prin- 
ciples. If  you  do  not  do  little  things  as  Christian  men 
and  women,  and  under  the  influence  of  Christian 
principle,  pray  what  are  you  going  to  do  under  the 
influence  of  Christian  principle?  If  you  are  keeping 
your  religion  to  influence  the  crises  of  your  lives,  and 
are  content  to  let  the  trifles  be  ruled  by  the  devil  or 
the  world  and  yourselves,  you  will  find  out,  when  you 
come  to  the  end,  that  there  were  perhaps  three  or  four 
crises  in  your  experience,  and  that  all  the  rest  of  life 
was  made  of  trifles,  and  that  when  the  crises  came  you 
could  not  lay  your  hand  on  the  religious  principle  that 
would  have  enabled  you  to  deal  with  them.  The  sword 
had  got  so  rusty  in  its  scabbard  because  it  had  never 
been  drawn  for  long  years,  that  it  could  not  be  readily 
drawn  in  the  moment  of  sudden  peril ;  and  if  you 
could  have  drawn  it,  you  would  have  found  its  edge 
blunted.  Use  your  religion  on  the  trifles,  or  you  will 
not  be  able  to  make  much  of  it  in  the  crises.  '  He  that 
is  faithful  in  that  which  is  least  is  faithful  also  in 
much.'  The  worship  of  every  day  is  the  preparation 
for  the  work  of  that  day. 

Further,  that  worship,  that  religion,  wearing  its 
common,  modest  suit  of  workaday  clothes,  must  also, 


120   SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES   [viii. 

if  there  is  to  be  any  power  in  it,  have  a  certain  variety 
in  its  methods.  •  Solomon  offered  burnt  offerings  .  .  . 
on  the  Sabbaths,  on  the  new  moons,'  which  had  a  little 
more  ceremonial  than  the  Sabbaths,  'and  on  the  solemn 
feasts  three  times  in  a  year,'  which  had  still  more 
ceremonial  than  the  new  moons,  •  even  in  the  Feast  of 
unleavened  bread,  and  in  the  Feast  of  weeks,  and  in  the 
Feast  of  tabernacles.'  These  were  spring-tides  when 
the  sea  of  worship  rose  beyond  its  usual  level,  and  they 
kept  it  from  stagnating.  We,  too,  if  we  wish  to  have 
this  every-day  religion  running  with  any  strength 
of  scour  and  current  through  our  lives,  will  need  to 
have  moments  when  it  touches  high- water  mark,  else 
it  will  not  flush  the  foulness  out  of  our  hearts  and 
our  lives. 

Lastly,  take  the  other  suggestion,  that  every  day  has 
its  own  supplies. 

That  does  not  lie  in  the  text  properly,  but  for  the 
sake  of  completeness  I  add  it.  Every  day  has  its  own 
supplies.  The  manna  fell  every  day,  and  was  gathered 
and  consumed  on  the  day  on  which  it  fell.  God  gives 
us  strength  measured  accurately  by  the  needs  of  the 
day.  You  will  get  as  much  as  you  require,  and  if  ever 
you  do  not  get  as  much  as  you  require,  which  is  very 
often  the  case  with  Christian  people,  that  is  not  because 
God  did  not  send  enough  manna,  but  because  their 
omer  was  not  ready  to  catch  it  as  it  fell.  The  day's 
supply  is  measured  by  the  day's  need.  Suppose  an 
Israelite  had  sat  in  his  tent  and  said,  '  I  am  not  going 
out  to  gather,'  would  he  have  had  any  in  his  empty 
vessel  ?  Certainly  not.  The  manna  lay  all  around  the 
tent,  but  each  man  had  to  go  out  and  gather  it.  God 
makes  no  mistakes  in  His  weights  and  measures.  He 
gives  us  each  sufficient  strength  to  do  His  will  and 


V6.12,13]      CONTRASTED  SERVICES         121 

to  walk  in  His  ways ;  and  if  we  do  not  do  His  will 
or  walk  in  His  ways,  or  if  we  find  our  burden  too  heavy, 
our  sorrows  too  sharp,  our  loneliness  too  dreary,  our 
difficulties  too  great,  it  is  not  because  *  the  Lord's  hand 
is  shortened  that  it  cannot'  supply,  but  because  our 
hands  are  so  slack  that  they  will  not  take  the  sufficiency 
which  He  gives.  In  the  midst  of  abundance  we  are 
starving.  We  let  the  water  run  idly  through  the  open 
sluice  instead  of  driving  the  wheels  of  life. 

My  friend !  God's  measure  of  supply  is  correct.  If  we 
were  more  faithful  and  humble,  and  if  we  understood 
better  and  felt  more  how  deep  is  our  need  and  how 
little  is  our  strength,  we  should  more  continually  be 
able  to  rejoice  that  He  has  given,  and  we  have  received, 
*  even  as  the  duty  of  every  day  required.' 


CONTRASTED  SERVICES 

'  They  shall  be  his  servants :  that  they  may  know  My  service,  and  the  service  of 
the  kingdoms  of  the  countries.'— 2  Chron.  xii.  8. 

Rehoboam  was  a  self-willed,  godless  king  who,  like 
some  other  kings,  learned  nothing  by  experience.  His 
kingdom  was  nearly  wrecked  at  the  very  beginning  of 
his  reign,  and  was  saved  much  more  by  the  folly  of  his 
rival  than  by  his  own  wisdom.  Jeroboam's  religious 
revolution  drove  all  the  worshippers  of  God  among  the 
northern  kingdom  into  flight.  They  might  have  en- 
dured the  separate  monarchy,  but  they  could  not  endure 
the  separate  Temple.  So  all  priests  and  Levites  in 
Israel,  and  all  the  adherents  of  the  ancestral  worship  in 
the  Temple  at  Jerusalem,  withdrew  to  the  southern 
kingdom  and  added  much  to  its  strength. 
Rehoboam's    narrow    escape    taught    him    neither 


122    SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES    [xii. 

moderation  nor  devotion,  his  new  strength  turned  his 
head.  He  forsook  the  law  of  the  Lord.  The  dreary- 
series,  so  often  illustrated  in  the  history  of  Israel, 
came  into  operation.  Prosperity  produced  irreligion ; 
irreligion  brought  chastisement ;  chastisement  brought 
repentance;  repentance  brought  the  removal  of  the 
invader — and  then,  like  a  spring  released,  back  went 
king  and  nation  to  their  old  sin. 

So  here — Rehoboam's  sins  take  visible  form  in  She- 
shak's  army.  He  has  sown  the  dragon's  teeth  and  they 
spring  up  armed  men.  Shemaiah  the  prophet,  the  first 
of  the  long  series  of  noble  men  who  curbed  the  violence 
of  Jewish  monarchs,  points  the  lesson  of  invasion  in 
plain,  blunt  words :  '  Ye  have  forsaken  Me.'  Then 
follow  penitence  and  confession — and  the  promise  that 
Jerusalem  shall  not  be  destroyed,  but  at  the  same  time 
they  are  to  be  left  as  vassals  and  tributaries  of  Egypt — 
an  anomalous  position  for  them — and  the  reason  is 
given  in  these  words  of  our  text. 

I.  The  contrasted  Masters. 

Judah  was  too  small  to  be  independent  of  the  power- 
ful warlike  states  to  its  north  and  south,  unless  miracu- 
lously guarded  and  preserved.  So  it  must  either  keep 
near  God,  and  therefore  free  and  safe  from  invasion,  or 
else,  departing  from  God  and  following  its  own  ways, 
fall  under  alien  dominion.  Its  experience  was  a  type  of 
that  of  universal  humanity.  Man  is  not  independent. 
His  mass  is  not  enough  for  him  to  do  without  a  central 
orb  round  which  he  may  revolve.  He  has  a  choice  of 
the  form  of  service  and  the  master  that  he  will  choose, 
but  one  or  other  must  dominate  his  life  and  sway  his 
motions.  '  Ye  cannot  serve  God  and  Mammon ' ;  ye 
must  serve  God  or  Mammon.  The  solemn  choice  is 
presented  to  every  man,  but  the  misery  of  many  lives  is 


V.8]  CONTRASTED  SERVICES  123 

that  they  drift  along,  making  their  election  unawares, 
and  infallibly  choosing  the  worse  by  the  very  act  of 
lazily  or  weakly  allowing  accident  to  determine  their 
lives.  Not  consciously  and  strongly  to  will  the  right, 
not  resolutely  and  with  coercion  of  the  vagrant  self  to 
will  to  take  God  for  our  aim,  is  to  choose  the  low,  the 
wrong.  Perhaps  none,  or  very  few  of  us,  would  de- 
liberately say  *I  choose  Mammon,  having  carefully 
compared  the  claims  of  the  opposite  systems  of  life  that 
solicit  me,  and  with  open-eyed  scrutiny  measured  their 
courses,  their  goods  and  their  ends.'  But  how  many  of 
us  there  are  who  have  in  effect  made  that  choice,  and 
never  have  given  one  moment's  clear,  patient  examina- 
tion of  the  grounds  of  our  choice !  The  policy  of  drift 
is  unworthy  of  a  man  and  is  sure  to  end  in  ruin. 

It  is  not  for  me  to  attempt  here  to  draw  out  the 
contrast  between  man's  chief  end  and  all  other  rival 
claimants  of  our  lives.  Each  man  must  do  that  for  him- 
Belf,  and  I  venture  to  assert  that  the  more  thoroughly 
the  process  of  comparison  is  carried  out,  and  the  more 
complete  the  analysis  not  only  of  the  rival  claims  and 
gifts,  but  of  our  capacities  and  needs,  the  more  sun-clear 
will  be  the  truth  of  the  old,  well-worn  answer :  '  Man's 
chief  end  is  to  glorify  God  and  to  enjoy  Him  for  ever.' 
The  old  woman  by  her  solitary  fireside  who  has  learned 
that  and  practises  it,  has  chosen  the  better  part  which 
will  last  when  many  shining  careers  have  sunk  into  dark- 
ness, and  many  will-o'-the-wisps,  which  have  been  pur- 
sued with  immense  acclamations,  have  danced  away 
into  the  bog,  and  many  a  man  who  has  been  envied  and 
admired  has  had  to  sum  up  his  successful  career  in  the 
sad  words,  'I  have  played  the  fool  and  erred  exceedingly.' 
I  cannot  pretend  to  conduct  the  investigation  for  you, 
but  I  can  press  on  every  one  who  does  not  wish  to  let 


124    SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES    [xii. 

accidents  mould  him,  at  least  to  recognise  that  there  is 
a  choice  to  be  made,  and  to  make  it  deliberately  and 
with  eyes  open  to  the  facts  of  the  case.  It  is  a  shabby 
way  of  ruining  yourself  to  do  it  for  want  of  thought. 
The  rabble  of  competitors  of  God  catch  more  souls  by 
accident  than  of  set  purpose.  Most  men  are  godless 
because  they  have  never  fairly  faced  the  question : 
what  does  my  soul  require  in  order  to  reach  its  highest 
blessedness  and  its  noblest  energy? 

II.  The  contrasted  experience  of  the  servants. 

Judah  learned  that  the  yoke  of  obedience  to  God's 
law  was  a  world  lighter  than  the  grinding  oppression 
of  the  Egyptian  invader. 

God's  service  is  freedom ;  the  world's  is  slavery. 

Liberty  is  unrestrained  power  to  do  what  we  ought. 
Man  must  be  subject  to  law.  The  solemn  imperative 
of  duty  is  omnipresent  and- sovereign.  To  do  as  we  like 
is  not  freedom,  but  bondage  to  self,  and  that  usually 
our  worst  self,  which  means  crushing  or  coercing  the 
better  self.  The  choice  is  to  chain  the  beast  in  us  or  to 
clip  the  wings  of  the  angel  in  us,  and  he  is  a  fool  who 
conceits  himself  free  because  he  lets  his  inferior  self 
have  its  full  swing,  and  hustles  his  better  self  into 
bondage  to  clear  the  course  for  the  other.  There  is  but 
one  deliverance  from  the  sway  of  self,  and  it  is  realised 
in  the  liberty  wherewith  Christ  has  made  us  free.  To 
make  self  our  master  inevitably  leads  to  setting  beggars 
on  horseback  and  princes  w^alking.  Passion,  the  •  flesh ' 
is  terribly  apt  to  usurp  the  throne  within  when  once 
God  is  dethroned.  Then  indulgence  feeds  passion,  and 
deeper  draughts  become  necessary  in  order  to  produce 
the  same  efPects,  and  cravings,  once  allowed  free  play, 
grow  in  ravenousness,  while  their  pabulum  steadily 
loses  its  power  to  satisfy.     The  experience  of  the  un- 


V.8]  CONTRASTED  SERVICES  125 

devout  sensualist  is  but  too  faithful  a  type  of  that  of 
all  undevout  livers,  in  the  failure  of  delights  to  delight 
and  of  acquisitions  to  enrich,  and  in  the  bondage,  often 
to  nothing  more  worthy  to  be  obeyed  than  mere  habit, 
and  in  the  hopeless  incapacity  to  shake  oif  the  adam- 
antine chains  which  they  have  themselves  rivetted  on 
their  limbs.  There  are  endless  varieties  in  the  forms 
which  the  service  of  self  assumes,  ranging  from  gross 
animalism,  naked  and  unashamed,  up  to  refined  and 
cultured  godlessness,  but  they  are  one  in  their  inmost 
character,  one  in  their  disabling  the  spirit  from  a  free 
choice  of  its  course,  one  in  the  limitations  which  they 
impose  on  its  aspirations  and  possibilities,  one  in  the 
heavy  yoke  which  they  lay  on  their  vassals.  The  true 
liberty  is  realised  only  when  for  love's  dear  sake  we 
joyously  serve  God,  and  from  the  highest  motive  enrol 
ourselves  in  the  household  of  the  highest  Person,  and 
by  the  act  become  '  no  more  servants  but  sons.'  Well 
may  we  all  pray — 

'Lord  1  bind  me  up,  and  let  me  lie 
A  prisoner  to  my  liberty, 
If  such  a  state  at  all  can  be 
As  an  imprisonment,  serving  Thee,' 

God's  service  brings  solid  good,  the  world's  is  vain  and 
empty. 

God's  service  brings  an  approving  conscience,  a  calm 
heart,  strength  and  gladness.  It  is  in  full  accord  with 
our  best  selves.  Tranquil  joys  attend  on  it.  '  In  keep- 
ing Thy  commandments  there  is  great  reward,'  and 
that  not  merely  bestowed  after  keeping,  but  realised 
and  inherent  in  the  very  act.  On  the  other  side,  think 
of  the  stings  of  conscience,  the  illusions  on  which  those 
feed  who  will  not  eat  of  the  heavenly  food,  the  husks 
of  the  swine-trough,  the  ashes  for  bread,  that  self  and 


126    SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES    [xii. 

the  world,  in  all  their  forms  set  before  men.  A  pathetic 
character  in  modern  fiction  says,  •  If  you  make  believe 
very  much  it  is  nice.'  It  takes  a  tremendous  amount 
of  make-believe  to  keep  up  an  appetite  for  the  world's 
dainties  or  to  find  its  meats  palatable,  after  a  little 
while.  No  sin  ever  yields  the  fruit  it  was  expected  to 
produce,  or  if  it  does  it  brings  something  which  was 
not  expected,  and  the  bitter  tang  of  the  addition  spoils 
the  whole.  It  may  be  wisely  adapted  to  secure  a  given 
end,  but  that  end  is  only  a  means  to  secure  the  real 
end,  our  substantial  blessedness,  and  that  is  never 
attained  but  by  one  course  of  life,  the  life  of  service  of 
God.  We  may  indeed  win  a  goodly  garment,  but  the 
plague  is  in  the  stuff  and,  worn,  it  will  burn  into  the 
bones  like  fire.  I  read  somewhere  lately  of  thieves  who 
had  stolen  a  cask  of  wine,  and  had  their  debauch,  but 
they  sickened  and  died.  The  cask  was  examined  and  a 
huge  snake  was  found  dead  in  it.  Its  poison  had  passed 
into  the  wine  and  killed  the  drinkers.  That  is  how  the 
world  serves  those  who  swill  its  cup.  '  What  fruit  had 
ye  then  in  those  things  whereof  ye  are  now  ashamed  ? ' 
The  threatening  pronounced  against  Israel's  disobedi- 
ence enshrines  an  eternal  truth : '  Because  thou  servedst 
not  the  Lord  thy  God  with  joyfulness,  and  with  glad- 
ness of  heart,  by  reason  of  the  abundance  of  all  things ; 
therefore  shalt  thou  serve  thine  enemies  ...  in  hunger 
and  in  thirst,  and  in  nakedness  and  in  want  of  all 
things.' 

God's  service  has  final  issues  and  the  world's  service 
has  final  issues. 

Only  fools  try  to  blink  the  fact  that  all  our  doings 
have  consequences.  And  it  augurs  no  less  levity  and 
insensibility  to  blink  the  other  fact  that  these  conse- 
quences show  no  indications  of  being  broken  short  off 


V.  8]  CONTRASTED  SERVICES  127 

at  the  end  of  our  earthly  life.  Men  die  into  another 
life,  as  they  have  ever,  dimly  and  with  many  foolish 
accompaniments,  believed  ;  and  dead,  they  are  the  men 
that  they  have  made  themselves  while  living.  Char- 
acter is  eternal,  memory  is  eternal,  death  puts  the 
stamp  of  perpetuity  on  what  life  has  evolved.  Nothing 
human  ever  dies.  The  thought  is  too  solemn  to  be 
vulgarised  by  pulpit  rhetoric.  Enough  to  say  here  that 
these  two  tremendous  alternatives,  Life  and  Death, 
express  some  little  part  of  the  eternal  issues  of  our 
fleeting  days.  Looking  fixedly  into  these  two  great 
symbols  of  the  ultimate  issues  of  these  contrasted 
services,  we  can  dimly  see,  as  in  the  one,  a  wonder  of 
resplendent  glories  moving  in  a  sphere  *  as  calm  as  it  is 
bright,'  so,  in  the  other,  whirling  clouds  and  jets  of 
vapour  as  in  the  crater  of  a  volcano.  One  shuddering 
glance  over  the  rim  of  it  should  suffice  to  warn  from 
lingering  near,  lest  the  unsteady  soil  should  crumble 
beneath  our  feet. 

But  the  true  Lord  of  our  lives  loves  us  too  well  to  let 
us  experience  all  the  bitter  issues  of  our  foolish  rebellion 
against  His  authority,  and  yet  He  loves  us  too  well  not 
to  let  us  taste  something  of  them  that  we  may  *  know 
and  see  that  it  is  an  evil  thing  and  a  bitter,  that  thou 
hast  forsaken  the  Lord  thy  God.'  The  experiences  of 
the  consequences  of  godless  living  are  In  some  measure 
allowed  to  fall  on  us  by  God's  love,  lest  we  should  per- 
sist in  the  evil  and  so  bring  down  on  ourselves  still 
more  fatal  issues.  It  is  mercy  that  here  chastises  the 
evildoer  with  whips,  in  hope  of  not  having  to  chastise 
him  with  scorpions.  God  desires  to  teach  us,  by  the 
pains  and  heartaches  of  an  undevout  life,  by  disappoint- 
ments, foiled  plans,  wrecked  hopes,  inner  poverty,  the 
(.lifference  between  His  service  and  that  of  'the  king- 


128    SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES    [xii. 

doms  of  the  countries,'  if  haply  He  may  not  be  forced 
to  let  the  full  flood  of  fatal  results  overwhelm  us.  It  is 
best  to  be  drawn  to  serve  Him  by  the  cords  of  love,  but 
it  is  possible  to  have  the  beginnings  of  the  desire  so  to 
serve  roused  by  the  far  lower  motives  of  weariness  and 
disgust  at  the  world's  wages,  and  by  dread  of  what 
these  may  prove  when  they  are  paid  in  full.  Self- 
interest  may  sicken  a  man  of  serving  Mammon,  and 
may  be  transformed  into  the  self-surrender  which 
makes  God's  service  possible  and  blessed.  The  flight 
into  the  city  of  refuge  may  be  quickened  by  the  fear  of 
the  pursuer,  whose  horse's  hoofs  are  heard  thundering 
on  the  road  behind  the  fugitive,  and  whose  spear  is  all 
but  felt  a  yard  from  his  back,  but  once  within  the 
shelter  of  the  city  wall,  gratitude  for  deliverance  will 
fill  his  heart  and  '  perfect  love  will  cast  out  fear.' 

The  king  concerning  whom  our  text  was  spoken  had 
to  suffer  humiliation  by  the  Egyptian  invasion.  His 
sufferings  were  meant  to  be  educational,  and  when 
they  in  some  measure  effected  their  purpose,  God 
curbed  the  invader  and  granted  some  measure  of 
deliverance.  So  is  it  with  us,  if,  moved  by  whatever 
impulse,  we  betake  ourselves  to  Jesus  to  save  us  from 
the  bitter  fruits  of  our  evil  lives.  The  extreme  severity 
of  the  results  of  our  sins  does  not  fall  on  penitent,  be- 
lieving spirits,  but  some  do  fall.  As  the  Psalmist  says  : 
•Thou  wast  a  God  that  forgavest  them  though  Thou 
tookest  vengeance  of  their  inventions.'  A  profligate 
course  of  life  may  be  forgiven,  but  health  or  fortune  is 
ruined  all  the  same.  In  brief,  the  so-called  '  natural ' 
consequences  are  not  removed,  though  the  sin  which 
caused  them  is  pardoned.  Polluted  memories,  indulged 
habits,  defiled  imaginations,  are  not  got  rid  of,  though 
the  sins  that  inflicted  them  are  forgiven. 


V.8]         THE  SECRET  OF  VICTORY         129 

Is  it  not,  then,  the  part  of  wise  men  to  lay  to  heart  the 
lessons  of  experience,  and  to  let  what  we  have  learned 
of  the  bitter  fruit  of  godless  living  turn  us  away  from 
such  service,  and  draw  us  by  merciful  chastisement  to 
yield  ourselves  to  God,  whom  to  serve  accords  with  our 
deepest  needs  and  brings  first  fruits  and  pre-libations 
of  blessedness  and  peace  here,  and  fullness  of  joy  with 
pleasures  for  evermore  hereafter  ? 


THE  SECRET  OF  VICTORY 

'The  children  of  Judah  prevailed,  because  they  relied  upon  the  Lord  God  of 
their  fathers.'— 2  Chron.  xiii.  18. 

These  words  are  the  summing-up  of  the  story  of  a 
strange  old-world  battle  between  Jeroboam,  the 
adventurer  who  rent  the  kingdom,  and  Abijah,  the 
son  of  the  foolish  Rehoboam,  whose  unseasonable 
blustering  had  played  into  the  usurper's  hands.  The 
son  was  a  wiser  and  better  man  than  his  father.  It 
is  characteristic  of  the  ancient  world,  that  before  battle 
was  joined  Abijah  made  a  long  speech  to  the  enemy, 
recounting  the  ritual  deficiencies  of  the  Northern 
kingdom,  and  proudly  contrasting  the  punctilious 
correctness  of  the  Temple  service  with  the  irregular 
cult  set  up  by  Jeroboam.  He  confidently  pointed  to 
the  priests  *  with  their  trumpets '  in  his  army  as  the 
visible  sign  that  'God  is  with  us  at  our  head,'  and 
while  charging  Israel  with  having  '  forsaken  the  Lord 
our  God,'  to  whom  he  and  his  people  had  kept  true, 
besought  them  not  to  carry  their  rebellion  to  the 
extreme  of  fighting  against  their  fathers'  God,  and 
assured    them    that    no    success    could    attend   their 

I 


130  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES   [xin. 

weapons  in  such  a  strife.  The  passionate  appeal  had 
no  effect,  but  while  Abijah  was  orating,  Jeroboam  was 
carrying  out  a  ruse,  and  planting  part  of  his  troops 
behind  Judah,  so  as  to  put  them  between  two  fires  and 
draw  a  net  round  the  outnumbered  and  outmanoeuvred 
enemy. 

Abijah  and  his  men  suddenly  detected  their  desperate 
position,  and  did  the  only  wise  thing.  When,  with  a 
shock  of  surprise,  they  saw  that  '  behold !  the  battle 
was  before  and  behind  them,'  they  '  cried  unto  the 
Lord,  and  the  priests  sounded  with  the  trumpets.' 
The  sharp,  short  cry  from  thousands  of  agitated  men 
ringed  round  by  foes,  and  the  blare  of  the  trumpets 
were  both  prayers,  and  heartened  the  suppliants  for 
their  whirlwind  charge,  before  which  the  men  of 
Israel,  double  in  number  as  they  were,  broke  and  fled. 
The  defeat  was  thorough,  and,  for  a  while,  Rehoboam 
and  his  kingdom  were  'brought  under,'  and  a  com- 
paratively long  peace  followed.  Our  text  gathers  up 
the  lesson  taught,  not  to  Judah  or  Israel  alone,  by 
victory  and  defeat,  when  it  declares  that  to  rely  upon 
the  Lord  is  to  prevail.  It  opens  for  us  the  secret  of 
victory,  in  that  old  far-off  struggle  and  in  to-day's 
conflicts. 

I.  We  note  the  faith  of  the  fighters. 

'They  relied,'  says  the  chronicler,  'upon  the  Lord.' 
Now  the  word  rendered  'relied'  is  one  of  several 
picturesque  words  by  which  the  Old  Testament,  which 
we  are  sometimes  told,  with  a  great  flourish  of 
learning,  has  no  mention  of  'faith,'  expresses  'trust,'  by 
metaphors  drawn  from  bodily  actions  which  symbolise 
the  spiritual  act.  The  word  here  literally  signifies  to 
lean  on,  as  a  feeble  hand  might  on  a  staff,  or  a 
tremulous  arm  on  a  strong  one.    And  does  not  that 


V.  18]       THE  SECRET  OF  VICTORY         131 

picture  carry  with  it  much  insight  into  what  the 
essence  of  Old  Testament  '  trust '  or  New  Testament 
'  faith '  is  ?  If  we  think  of  faith  as  leaning,  we  shall 
not  fall  into  that  starved  misconception  of  it  which 
takes  it  to  be  nothing  more  than  intellectual  assent. 
We  shall  see  there  is  a  far  fuller  pulse  of  feeling  than 
that  beating  in  it.  A  man  who  leans  on  some  support, 
does  so  because  he  knows  that  his  own  strength  is 
insufficient  for  his  need.  The  consciousness  of  weak- 
ness is  the  beginning  of  faith.  He  who  has  never 
despaired  of  himself  has  scarcely  trusted  in  God. 
Abijah's  enemies  were  two  to  one  of  his  own  men.  No 
wonder  that  they  cried  unto  the  Lord,  and  felt  a  stound 
of  despair  shake  their  courage.  And  who  of  us  can  face 
life  with  its  heavy  duties,  its  thick-clustering  dangers 
and  temptations,  its  certain  struggles,  its  possible 
failures,  and  not  feel  the  cold  touch  of  dread  gripping 
our  hearts,  though  strong  and  brave  ?  Surely  he  has 
had  little  experience,  or  has  learned  little  wisdom  from 
the  experience  he  has  had,  who  has  yet  to  discover  his 
own  weakness.  But  the  consciousness  of  weakness  is 
by  itself  debilitating,  and  but  increases  the  weakness 
of  which  it  is  painfully  aware.  There  is  no  surer  way 
to  sap  what  strength  we  have  than  to  tell  ourselves 
what  poor  creatures  we  are.  The  purpose  and  end  of 
self-contemplation  which  becomes  aware  of  our  own 
feebleness  is  to  lead  us  to  the  contemplation  of  God, 
our  immortal  strength.  Abijah's  assurance  that  *  God 
is  with  us  at  our  head '  rang  out  triumphantly.  Faith 
has  an  upper  and  an  under  side:  the  under  side  is 
self  -  distrust ;  the  upper,  trust  in  God.  He  will 
never  lean  all  his  weight  on  a  prop,  who  fancies 
that  he  can  stand  alone,  or  has  other  stays  to  hold 
him  up. 


132   SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES   [xiii. 

But  Abijah's  example  teaches  us  another  lesson — 
that  for  a  vigorous  faith,  there  must  be  obedience  to 
all  God's  known  will.  True,  thank  God!  faith  often 
springs  in  its  power  in  a  soul  that  is  conscious  but  of 
sin,  but  a  continuance  in  disobedience  will  inevitably 
kill  faith.  It  was  because  Abijah  and  his  people  had 
kept '  the  charge  of  the  Lord  our  God,'  that  they  were 
sure  that  God  was  with  them.  We  can  only  be 
sure  of  God  to  lean  on  when  we  are  doing  His  will, 
and  we  shall  do  His  will  only  as  we  are  sure  that  we 
lean  on  Him.  Our  trust  in  Him  will  be  strong  and 
operative  in  the  measure  in  which  our  lives  are  con- 
formed to  His  commandments.  Much  elaborate  dis- 
sertation has  been  devoted  to  expounding  what  faith 
is,  and  the  strong,  vivid  Scriptural  conception  of  it  has 
been  wofully  darkened  and  overlaid  with  cobwebs  of 
theology,  but  surely  this  eloquent  metaphor  of  our 
text  tells  us  more  than  do  many  learned  volumes.  It 
bids  us  lean  on  God,  rest  the  whole  weight  of  our 
needs,  our  weaknesses,  and  our  sins  on  Him.  Like 
any  human  friend  or  helper.  He  is  better  pleased  when 
we  lean  hard  on  Him  than  when  we  gingerly  put  a 
finger  on  His  arm,  and  lay  no  pressure  on  it,  as  we  do 
when  in  ceremonial  fashion  we  seem  to  accept  another's 
support,  and  hold  ourselves  back  from  putting  a  weight 
on  the  offered  arm.  We  cannot  rely  too  utterly  on 
Him.  We  honour  Him  most  when  we  repose  our 
whole  selves  on  His  strong  arm. 

II.  The  increase  of  faith  by  sudden  fear. 

•When  Judah  looked  back,  behold,  the  battle  was 
before  and  behind  them.'  The  shock  of  seeing  the 
flashing  spears  in  the  rear  would  make  the  bravest 
hold  their  breath  for  one  overwhelming  moment,  but 
the  next  moment  their  faith  in  God  surged  back  with 


V.18]       THE  SECRET  OF  VICTORY         133 

tenfold  force,  increased  by  the  sudden  new  peril.  The 
sharp  collision  of  flint  and  steel  struck  out  a  spark  of 
faith.  '  What  time  I  am  afraid,  I  will  trust  in  Thee,' 
said  an  expert  in  the  genesis  and  growth  of  trust. 
Peril  kills  a  feeble  trust,  but  vivifies  it,  if  strong.  The 
recognition  of  danger  is  meant  to  drive  us  to  God.  If 
each  fresh  difficulty  or  danger  makes  us  tighten  our 
clasp  of  Him,  and  lean  the  harder  on  Him,  it  has 
done  its  highest  service  to  us,  and  we  have  conquered 
it,  and  are  the  stronger  because  of  it.  The  storm 
that  makes  the  traveller,  fighting  with  the  wind  and 
the  rain  in  his  face,  clasp  his  cloak  tighter  round  him, 
does  him  no  harm.  The  purpose  of  our  trials  is  to 
drive  us  to  God,  and  a  fair-weather  faith  which  had 
all  but  fallen  asleep  is  often  roused  to  energy  that 
works  wonders,  by  the  sudden  dash  of  danger  flung 
into  and  disturbing  a  life.  It  is  wise  seamanship  to 
make  a  run  to  get  snugly  behind  the  breakwater  when 
a  sudden  gale  springs  up. 

III.  The  expression  of  faith  in  appeal  to  God. 

When  the  ambush  was  unmasked,  the  surrounded 
men  of  Judah  '  cried  unto  the  Lord,  and  the  priests 
sounded  with  the  trumpets,'  before  they  flung  them- 
selves on  the  enemy.  We  may  be  sure  that  their  cry 
was  short  and  sharp,  and  poignant  with  appeal  to  God. 
There  would  be  no  waste  words,  nor  perfunctory 
petitions  without  wings  of  desire,  in  that  cry.  Should 
we  not  look  for  the  essential  elements  of  prayer  rather 
to  such  cries,  pressed  from  burdened  hearts  by  a  keen 
sense  of  absolute  helplessness,  and  very  careless  of 
proprieties  so  long  as  they  were  shrill  enough  to  pierce 
God's  ear  and  touch  His  heart,  than  to  the  formal 
petitions  of  well-ordered  worship?  A  single  ejaculation 
flung  heavenward  in  a  moment  of  despair  or  agony  is 


134   SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES   [xm. 

more  precious  in  God's  sight  than  a  whole  litany  of 
half-hearted  devotions. 

The  text  puts  in  a  striking  form  another  lesson 
well  worth  learning,  that,  in  the  greatest  crises,  no 
time  is  better  spent  than  time  used  for  prayer.  A  rush 
on  the  enemy  would  not  have  served  Abijah's  purpose 
nearly  so  well  as  that  moment's  pause  for  crying  to 
the  Lord,  before  his  charge.  Hands  lifted  to  heaven 
are  nerved  to  clutch  the  sword  and  strike  manfully. 
It  is  not  only  that  Christ's  soldiers  are  to  fight  and  pray, 
but  that  they  fight  by  praying.  That  is  true  in  the 
small  conflicts  and  antagonisms  of  the  lives  of  each  of 
us,  and  it  is  true  in  regard  to  the  agelong  battle 
against  ignorance  and  sin.  Christian's  sword  was 
named  'All-prayer.' 

The  priests,  too,  blew  a  prayer  through  their 
trumpets,  for  the  ordinance  had  appointed  that  *  when 
ye  go  to  war  .  .  .  then  shall  ye  sound  an  alarm  with 
the  trumpets ;  and  ye  shall  be  remembered  before  the 
Lord  your  God,  and  ye  shall  be  saved  from  your 
enemies.'  The  clear,  strident  blare  was  not  intended  to 
hearten  warriors,  or  to  sing  defiance,  but  to  remind 
God  of  His  promises,  and  to  bring  Him  on  to  the 
battlefield,  as  He  had  said  that  He  would  be.  The 
truest  prayer  is  that  which  but  picks  up  the  arrows  of 
promise  shot  from  heaven  to  earth,  and  casts  them 
back  from  earth  to  heaven.  He  prays  best  who  fills 
his  mouth  with  God's  words,  turning  every  '  I  will '  of 
His  into 'Do  Thou!' 

IV.  The  strength  that  comes  through  faith. 

'  As  the  men  of  Judah  shouted,  it  came  to  pass  that 
God  smote  Jeroboam  and  all  Israel  before  Abijah  and 
Judah.'  There  is  no  such  quickener  of  all  a  man's 
natural  force  as  even  the  lowest  forms  of  faith.    He 


V.  18]       THE  SECRET  OF  VICTORY         135 

who  throws  himself  into  any  enterprise  sure  of  success 
will  often  succeed  just  because  he  was  sure  he  would. 
The  world's  history  is  full  of  instances  where  men,  with 
every  odds  against  them,  have  plucked  the  flower  safety 
out  of  the  nettle  danger,  just  because  they  trusted  in 
their  star,  or  their  luck,  or  their  destiny.  We  all  know 
how  a  very  crude  faith  turned  a  horde  of  wild  Arabs 
into  a  conquering  army,  that  in  a  century  dominated 
the  world  from  Damascus  to  Seville.  The  truth  that  is 
in  'Christian  Science'  is  that  many  forms  of  disease 
yield  to  the  patient's  firm  persuasion  of  recovery.  And 
from  these  and  many  other  facts  the  natural  power  of 
faith  is  beginning  to  dawn  on  the  most  matter-of-fact 
and  unspiritual  people.  They  are  beginning  to  think 
that  perhaps  Christ  was  right  after  all  in  saying  '  All 
things  are  possible  to  him  that  believeth,'  and  that  it  is 
not  such  a  blunder  after  all  to  make  faith  the  first  step 
to  all  holiness  and  purity,  and  the  secret  of  victory  in 
life's  tussle.  Leaving  out  of  view  for  the  moment 
the  supernatural  effects  of  faith,  which  Christianity 
alleges  are  its  constant  consequences,  it  is  clear  that  its 
natural  effects  are  all  in  the  direction  of  increasing  the 
force  of  the  trusting  man.  It  calms,  it  heartens  for  all 
work,  effort,  and  struggle.  It  imparts  patience,  it 
brightens  hope,  it  forbids  discouragement,  it  rebukes 
and  cures  despondency.  And  besides  all  this,  there  is 
the  supernatural  communication  of  a  strength  not  our 
own,  which  is  the  constant  result  of  Christian  faith. 
Christian  faith  knits  the  soul  and  the  Saviour  in  so 
close  a  union,  that  all  that  is  Christ's  becomes  the 
Christian's,  and  every  believer  may  hear  His  Lover's 
voice  whispering  to  him  what  one  of  His  servants  once 
heard  in  an  hour  of  despondency,  '  My  grace  is  sufficient 
for  thee,  for  My  power  is  made  perfect  in  weakness.' 


136   SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES   [xiv. 

Faith  joins  us  to  the  Lord,  and  '  he  that  is  joined  to 
the  Lord  is  one  spirit ' ;  and  that  Lord  has  said  to  all 
His  disciples,  '  I  give  thee  Myself,  and  in  Myself  all 
that  is  Mine.'  We  do  not  go  to  warfare  at  our  own 
charges,  but  there  will  pass  into  and  abide  in  our  hearts 
the  warlike  might  of  the  true  King  and  Captain  of  the 
Lord's  host,  and  we  shall  hear  the  ring  of  His  encourag- 
ing voice  saying, '  Be  of  good  cheer  I  I  have  overcome 
the  world.' 


ASA'S  REFORMATION,  AND  CONSEQUENT 
PEACE  AND  VICTORY 

•  And  Asa  did  that  which  was  good  and  right  in  the  eyes  of  the  Lord  his  God : 
3.  For  he  took  away  the  altars  of  the  strange  gods,  and  the  high  places,  and  brake 
down  the  images,  and  cut  down  the  groves :  4.  And  commanded  Judah  to  seek  the 
Lord  God  of  their  fathers,  and  to  do  the  law  and  the  commandment.  5.  Also  he  took 
away  out  of  all  the  cities  of  Judah  the  high  places  and  the  images :  and  the  king- 
dom was  quiet  before  him.  6.  And  he  built  fenced  cities  in  Judah :  for  the  land  had 
rest,  and  he  had  no  war  in  those  years ;  because  the  Lord  had  given  him  rest. 
7.  Therefore  he  said  unto  Judah,  Let  us  build  these  cities,  and  make  about  them 
walls,  and  towers,  gates,  and  baps,  while  the  land  is  yet  before  us ;  because  wo 
have  sought  the  Loi-d  our  God,  we  have  sought  Him,  and  He  hath  given  us  rest 
on  every  side.  So  they  built  and  prospered.  8.  And  Asa  had  an  army  of  men  that 
bare  targets  and  spears,  out  of  Judah  three  hundred  thousand ;  and  out  of  Ben- 
jamin, that  bare  shields  and  drew  bows,  two  hundred  and  fourscor*  thousand : 
all  these  were  mighty  men  of  valour.'— 2  Chron.  xiv.  2-8. 

Asa  was  Rehoboam's  grandson,  and  came  to  the 
throne  when  a  young  man.  The  two  preceding  reigns 
had  favoured  idolatry,  but  the  young  king  had  a 
will  of  his  own,  and  inaugurated  a  religious  revolu- 
tion, with  which  and  its  happy  results  this  passage 
deals. 

I.  It  first  recounts  the  thorough  clearance  of  idolatrous 
emblems  and  images  which  Asa  made.  '  Strange  altars,* 
— that  is,  those  dedicated  to  other  gods ;  '  high  places,' 
—that  is,  where  illegal  sacrifice  to  Jehovah  was  offered. 


vs.  2-8]  ASA'S  REFORMATION  187 

•  pillars/ — that  is,  stone  columns ;  and  *  Asherim,' — that 
is,  trees  or  wooden  poles,  survivals  of  ancient  stone-  or 
tree-worship;  'sun-images,' — that  is,  probably,  pillars 
consecrated  to  Baal  as  sun-god,  were  all  swept  away. 
The  enumeration  vividly  suggests  the  incongruous 
rabble  of  gods  which  had  taken  the  place  of  the  one 
Lord.  How  vainly  we  try  to  make  up  for  His  absence 
from  our  hearts  by  a  multitude  of  finite  delights  and 
helpers !  Their  multiplicity  proves  the  insufficiency  of 
each  and  of  all. 

1  Kings  XV.  13  adds  a  detail  which  brings  out  still 
more  clearly  Asa's  reforming  zeal ;  for  it  tells  us  that 
he  had  to  fight  against  the  influence  of  his  mother, 
who  had  been  prominent  in  supporting  disgusting  and 
immoral  forms  of  worship,  and  who  retained  some 
authority,  of  which  her  son  was  strong  enough  to  take 
the  extreme  step  of  depriving  her.  Remembering  the 
Eastern  reverence  for  a  mother,  we  can  estimate  the 
effort  which  that  required,  and  the  resolution  which  it 
implied.  But  1  Kings  differs  from  our  narrative  in 
stating  that  the  '  high  places '  were  not  taken  away 
— the  explanation  of  the  variation  probably  being 
that  the  one  account  tells  what  Asa  attempted  and 
commanded,  and  the  other  records  the  imperfect  way 
in  which  his  orders  were  carried  out.  They  would 
be  obeyed  in  Jerusalem  and  its  neighbourhood,  but 
in  many  a  secluded  corner  the  old  rites  would  be 
observed. 

It  is  vain  to  force  religious  revolutions.  Laws  which 
are  not  supported  by  the  national  conscience  will  only 
be  obeyed  where  disobedience  will  involve  penalties. 
If  men's  hearts  cleave  to  Baal,  they  will  not  be  turned 
into  Jehovah-worshippers  by  a  king's  commands. 
Asa  could  command  Judah  to  '  seek  the  Lord  God  of 


138   SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES    [xiv. 

their  fathers,  and  to  do  the  law,'  but  he  could  not  make 
them  do  it. 

II.  The  chronicler  brings  out  strongly  the  truth  which 
runs  through  his  whole  book, — namely,  the  connection 
between  honouring  Jehovah  and  national  prosperity. 
He  did  not  import  that  thought  into  his  narrative,  but 
he  insisted  on  it  as  moulding  the  history  of  Judah. 
Modern  critics  charge  him  with  writing  with  a  bias,  but 
he  learned  the  '  bias  '  from  God's  own  declarations,  and 
had  it  confirmed  by  observation,  reflection,  and  experi- 
ence. The  whole  history  of  Israel  and  Judah  was  one 
long  illustration  of  the  truth  which  he  is  constantly 
repeating.  No  doubt,  the  divine  dealings  with  Israel 
brought  obedience  and  well-being  into  closer  connection 
than  exists  now ;  but  in  deepest  truth  the  sure  defence 
of  our  national  prosperity  is  the  same  as  theirs,  and  it 
is  still  the  case  that  '  righteousness  exalteth  a  nation.' 
'  The  kingdom  was  quiet,'  says  the  chronicler,  '  and  he 
had  no  war  in  those  years ;  because  the  Lord  had  given 
him  rest.'  1  Kings  makes  more  of  the  standing  enmity 
with  the  northern  kingdom,  and  records  scarcely  any- 
thing of  Asa's  reign  except  the  war  which,  as  it  says, 
was  between  him  and  Baasha  of  Israel '  all  their  days.' 
But,  according  to  2  Chronicles  xvi.  1,  Baasha  did  not 
proceed  to  war  till  Asa's  thirty-sixth  year,  and  the 
halcyon  time  of  peace  evidently  followed  immediately 
on  the  religious  reformation  at  its  very  beginning. 

Asa's  experience  embodies  a  truth  which  is  substan- 
tially fulfilled  in  nations  and  in  individuals  ;  for  obedi- 
ence brings  rest,  often  outward  tranquillity,  always 
inward  calm.  Note  the  heightened  earnestness  ex- 
pressed in  the  repetition  of  the  expression  '  We  have 
sought  the  Lord '  in  verse  7,  and  the  grand  assurance 
of  His  favour  as  the  source  of  well-being  in  the  clause 


vs.  2-8]  ASA'S  PRAYER  139 

which  follows,  '  and  He  hath  given  us  rest  on  every 
side.'  That  is  always  so,  and  will  be  so  with  us.  If  we 
seek  Him  with  our  whole  hearts,  keeping  Him  ever 
before  us  amid  the  distractions  of  life,  taking  Him  as 
our  aim  and  desire,  and  ever  stretching  out  the  tendrils 
of  our  hearts  to  feel  after  Him  and  clasp  Him,  all  around 
and  within  will  be  tranquil,  and  even  in  warfare  we 
shall  preserve  unbroken  peace. 

Asa  teaches  us,  too,  the  right  use  of  tranquillity.  He 
clearly  and  gratefully  recognised  God's  hand  in  it,  and 
traced  it  not  to  his  own  warlike  skill  or  his  people's 
prowess,  but  to  Him.  And  he  used  the  time  of  repose 
to  strengthen  his  defences,  and  exercise  his  soldiers 
against  possible  assaults.  We  do  not  yet  dwell  in  the 
land  of  peace,  where  it  is  safe  to  be  without  bolts  and 
bars,  but  have  ever  to  be  on  the  watch  for  sudden 
attacks.  Rest  from  war  should  give  leisure  for  build- 
ing not  only  fortresses,  but  temples,  as  was  the  case 
with  Solomon.  The  time  comes  when,  as  in  many  an 
ancient  fortified  city  of  Europe,  the  ramparts  may  be 
levelled,  and  flowers  bloom  where  sentries  walked ;  but 
to-day  we  have  to  be  on  perpetual  guard,  and  look  to 
our  fortifications,  if  we  would  not  be  overcome. 


ASA'S  PRAYER 

•  And  Asa  cried  unto  the  Lord  his  God,  and  said.  Lord,  it  is  nothing  with  Thee 
to  help,  whether  with  many,  or  with  them  that  have  no  power :  help  us,  O  Lord 
our  God ;  for  we  rest  on  Thee,  and  in  Thy  Name  we  go  against  this  multitude. 
O  Lord,  Thou  art  our  God ;  let  not  man  prevail  against  Thee.'— 2  Chron.  xiv.  11. 

This  King  Asa,  Rehoboam's  grandson,  had  had  a  long 
reign  of  peace,  which  the  writer  of  the  Book  of 
Chronicles  traces  to  the  fact  that  he  had  rooted  out 


140    SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES    [xiv. 

idolatry  from  Judah.  '  The  land  had  rest,  and  he  had 
no  war  .  .  .  because  the  Lord  had  given  him  rest.' 

But  there  came  a  time  when  the  war-cloud  began 
to  roll  threateningly  over  the  land,  and  a  great  army — 
the  numbers  of  which,  from  their  immense  magnitude, 
seem  to  be  erroneously  given — came  up  against  him. 
Like  a  wise  man  he  made  his  military  dispositions  first, 
and  prayed  next.  He  set  his  troops  in  order,  and  then 
he  fell  down  on  his  knees,  and  spoke  to  God. 

Now,  it  seems  to  me  that  this  prayer  contains  the 
very  essence  of  what  ought  to  be  the  Christian  atti- 
tude in  reference  to  all  the  conditions  and  threatening 
dangers  and  conflicts  of  life ;  and  so  I  wish  to  run  over 
it,  and  bring  out  the  salient  points  of  it,  as  typical 
of  what  ought  to  be  our  disposition. 

I.  The  wholesome  consciousness  of  our  own  im- 
potence. 

It  did  not  take  much  to  convince  Asa  that  he  had  '  no 
power.'  His  army,  according  to  the  numbers  given  of 
the  two  hosts,  was  outnumbered  two  to  one ;  and  so 
it  did  not  require  much  reflection  to  say,  '  We  have  no 
might.'  But  although  perhaps  not  so  sufficiently 
obvious  to  us,  as  truly  as  in  the  case  in  our  text,  if 
we  look  fairly  in  the  face  our  duties,  our  tasks,  our 
dangers,  the  possibilities  of  life  and  its  certainties,  the 
more  humbly  we  think  of  our  own  capacity,  the  more 
wisely  we  shall  think  about  God,  and  the  more  truly 
we  shall  estimate  ourselves.  The  world  says,  'Self- 
reliance  is  the  conquering  virtue  * ;  Jesus  says  to  us, 
'  Self-distrust  is  the  condition  of  all  victory.'  And  that 
does  not  mean  any  mere  shuffling  off  of  responsibility 
from  our  own  shoulders,  but  it  means  looking  the  facts 
of  our  lives,  and  of  our  own  characters,  in  the  face. 
And  if  we  will  do  that,  however  apparently  easy  may 


V.  11]  ASA'S  PRAYER  141 

be  our  course,  and  however  richly  endowed  in  mind, 
body,  or  estate  we  may  be,  if  we  all  do  that  honestly, 
we  shall  find  that  we  each  are  like  *  the  man  with  ten 
thousand '  that  has  to  meet  '  the  King  that  comes 
against  him  with  twenty  thousand ' ;  and  we  shall  not 
'  desire  conditions  of  peace '  with  our  enemy,  for  that  is 
not  what  in  this  case  we  have  to  do,  but  we  shall  look 
about  us,  and  not  keep  our  eyes  on  the  horizon,  and  on 
the  levels  of  earth,  but  look  up  to  see  if  there  is  not 
there  an  Ally  that  we  can  bring  into  the  field  to  redress 
the  balance,  and  to  make  our  ten  as  strong  as  the 
opposing  twenty.  Zerah  the  Ethiopian,  who  was  com- 
ing down  on  Asa,  is  said  to  have  had  a  million  fighting- 
men  at  his  back,  but  that  is  probably  an  erroneous 
figure,  because  Old  Testament  numbers  are  necessarily 
often  unreliable.  Asa  had  only  half  the  number;  so 
he  said,  'What  can  I  do?'  And  what  could  he  do? 
He  did  the  only  thing  possible,  he  'grasped  at  God's 
skirts,  and  prayed,'  and  that  made  all  the  difference. 

Now  all  that  is  true  about  the  disproportion  between 
the  foes  we  have  to  face  and  fight  and  our  own 
strength.  It  is  eminently  true  about  us  Christian 
people,  if  we  are  doing  any  work  for  our  Master.  You 
hear  people  say,  'Look  at  the  small  number  of  pro- 
fessing Christians  in  this  country,  as  compared  with 
the  numbers  on  the  other  side.  What  is  the  use  of 
their  trying  to  convert  the  world  ? '  Well,  think  of  the 
assembled  Christian  people,  for  instance,  of  Manchester, 
on  the  most  charitable  supposition,  and  the  shallowest 
interpretation  of  that  word  '  Christian.'  What  are 
they  among  so  many  ?  A  mere  handful.  If  the  Chris- 
tian Church  had  to  undertake  the  task  of  Christianis- 
ing the  world  by  its  own  strength,  we  might  well 
despair  of  success  and   stop   altogether,      '  We  have 


142   SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES    [xiv. 

no  might.'  The  disproportion  both  numerically  and 
in  all  things  that  the  world  estimates  as  strength 
(which  are  many  of  them  good  things),  is  so  great  that 
we  are  in  a  worse  case  than  Asa  was.  It  is  not  two  to 
one ;  it  is  twenty  to  one,  or  an  even  greater  dispropor- 
tion. But  we  are  not  only  numerically  weak.  A  multi- 
tude of  non-effectives,  mere  camp  followers,  loosely 
attached,  nominal  Christians,  have  to  be  deducted 
from  the  muster-roll,  and  the  few  who  are  left  are 
so  feeble  as  well  as  few  that  they  have  more  than 
enough  to  do  in  holding  their  own,  to  say  nothing  of 
dreaming  of  charging  the  wide-stretching  lines  of  the 
enemy.  So  a  profound  self  distrust  is  our  wisdom. 
But  that  should  not  paralyse  us,  but  lead  to  something 
better,  as  it  led  Asa. 

II.  Summoning  God  into  the  field  should  follow 
wholesome  self-distrust. 

Asa  uses  a  remarkable  expression,  which  is,  per- 
haps, scarcely  reproduced  adequately  in  our  Authorised 
Version:  'It  is  nothing  with  Thee  to  help,  whether 
with  many  or  with  them  that  have  no  power.'  It 
is  a  strange  phrase,  but  it  seems  most  probable  that 
the  suggested  rendering  in  the  Revised  Version  is 
nearer  the  writer's  meaning,  which  says,  '  Lord !  there 
is  none  beside  Thee  to  help  between  the  mighty  and 
them  that  have  no  power,'  which  to  our  ears  is  a 
somewhat  cumbrous  way  of  saying  that  God,  and  God 
only,  can  adjust  the  difference  between  the  mighty  and 
the  weak ;  can  redress  the  balance,  and  by  the  laj'ing 
of  His  hand  upon  the  feeble  hand  can  make  it  strong 
as  the  mailed  fist  to  which  it  is  opposed.  If  we  know 
ourselves  to  be  hopelessly  outnumbered,  and  send  to 
God  for  reinforcements.  He  will  clash  His  sword  into 
the  scale,  and  make  it  go  down.     Asa  turns  to  God  and 


V.  11]  ASA'S  PRAYER  143 

says,  '  Thou  only  canst  trim  the  scales  and  make  the 
lighter  of  the  two  the  heavier  one  by  casting  Thy 
might  into  it.    So  help  us,  O  Lord  our  God ! ' 

One  man  with  God  at  his  back  is  always  in  the 
majority ;  and,  however  many  there  may  be  on  the 
other  side,  'there  are  more  that  be  with  us  than 
they  that  be  with  them.'  There  is  encouragement  for 
people  who  have  to  fight  unpopular  causes  in  the  world, 
who  have  been  accustomed  to  be  in  minorities  all  their 
days,  in  the  midst  of  a  wicked  and  perverse  generation. 
Never  mind  about  the  numbers ;  bring  God  into  the 
field,  and  the  little  band,  which  is  compared  in  another 
place  in  these  historical  Books  to  '  two  flocks  of  kids ' 
fronting  the  enemy,  that  had  flowed  all  over  the 
land,  is  in  the  majority.  *  God  with  us ' ;  then  we 
are  strong. 

The  consciousness  of  weakness  may  unnerve  a  man; 
and  that  is  why  people  in  the  world  are  always  patting 
each  other  on  the  back  and  saying  '  Be  of  good  cheer, 
and  rely  upon  yourself.'  But  the  self -distrust  that 
turns  to  God  becomes  the  parent  of  a  far  more  reliable 
self-reliance  than  that  which  trusts  to  men.  My  con- 
sciousness of  need  is  my  opening  the  door  for  God 
to  come  in.  Just  as  you  always  find  the  lakes  in  the 
hollows,  so  you  will  always  find  the  grace  of  God 
coming  into  men's  hearts  to  strengthen  them  and 
make  them  victorious,  when  there  has  been  the  pre- 
paration of  the  lowered  estimate  of  one's  self.  Hollow 
out  your  heart  by  self-distrust,  and  God  will  fill  it  with 
the  flashing  waters  of  His  strength  bestowed.  The 
more  I  feel  myself  weak,  the  more  I  am  meant  not  to 
fold  my  hands  and  say,  '  I  never  can  do  that  thing ;  it 
is  of  no  use  my  trying  to  attempt  it,  I  may  as  well 
give  it  up';  but  to  say,   'Lord!   there  is  none  beside 


144   SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES    [xiv. 

Thee  that  can  set  the  balance  right  between  the  mighty 
and  him  that  hath  no  strength.'  'Help  me,  O  Lord 
my  God  I '  Just  as  those  little  hermit-crabs  that  you  see 
upon  the  seashore,  with  soft  bodies  unprotected,  make 
for  the  first  empty  shell  they  can  find,  and  house  in 
that  and  make  it  their  fortress,  our  exposed  natures, 
our  unarmoured  characters,  our  sense  of  weakness, 
ought  to  drive  us  to  Him.  As  the  unarmed  population 
of  a  land  invaded  by  the  enemy  pack  their  goods  and 
hurry  to  the  nearest  fortified  place,  so  when  I  say  to 
myself  I  have  no  strength,  let  me  say,  '  Thou  art  my 
Rock,  my  Strength,  my  Fortress,  and  my  Deliverer. 
My  God,  in  whom  I  trust,  my  Buckler,  and  the  Horn  of 
my  Salvation,  and  my  high  Tower.' 

Now,  there  is  one  more  word  about  this  matter, 
and  that  is,  the  way  by  which  we  summon  God  into  the 
field.  Asa  prays,  'Help  us,  O  Lord  our  God  I  for  we 
rest  on  Thee ';  and  the  word  that  he  employs  for  'rest' 
is  not  a  very  frequent  one.  It  carries  with  it  a  very 
striking  picture.  Let  me  illustrate  it  by  a  reference  to 
another  case  where  it  is  employed.  It  is  used  in  that 
tragical  story  of  the  death  of  Saul,  when  the  man  that 
saw  the  last  of  him  came  to  David  and  drew  in  a 
sentence  the  pathetic  picture  of  the  wearied,  wounded, 
broken-hearted,  discrowned,  desperate  monarch,  leaning 
on  his  spear.  You  can  understand  how  hard  he  leaned, 
with  what  a  grip  he  held  it,  and  how  heavily  his  whole 
languid,  powerless  weight  pressed  upon  it.  And  that 
is  the  word  that  is  used  here.  •  We  lean  on  Thee '  as 
the  wounded  Saul  leaned  upon  his  spear.  Is  that  a 
picture  of  your  faith,  my  friend  ?  Do  you  lean  upon 
God  like  that,  laying  your  hand  upon  Him  till  every 
vein  on  your  hand  stands  out  with  the  force  and  tension 
of  the  grasp  ?     Or  do  you  lean  lightly,  as  a  man  that 


v.ll]  ASA'S  PRAYER  145 

does  not  feel  much  the  need  of  a  support  ?  Lean  hard 
if  you  wish  God  to  come  quickly.  *  We  rest  on  Thee ; 
help  us,  O  Lord ! ' 

III.  Courageous  advance  should  follow  self-distrust 
and  summoning  God  by  faith. 

It  is  well  when  self -distrust  leads  to  confidence,  when, 
as  Charles  Wesley  has  it  in  his  great  hymn : 

• ...  I  am  weak, 
But  confident  in  self -despair.' 

But  that  is  not  enough.  It  is  better  when  self-distrust 
and  confidence  in  God  lead  to  courage,  and  as  Asa 
goes  on, '  Help  us,  for  we  rely  on  Thee,  and  in  Thy  name 
we  go  against  this  multitude.'  Never  mind  though  it 
is  two  to  one.  What  does  that  matter?  Prudence 
and  calculation  are  well  enough,  but  there  is  a  great 
deal  of  very  rank  cowardice  and  want  of  faith  in 
Christian  people,  both  in  regard  to  their  own  lives  and 
in  regard  to  Christian  work  in  the  world,  which  goes 
masquerading  under  much  too  respectable  a  name,  and 
calls  itself  *  judicious  caution '  and  *  prudence.'  There 
is  little  ever  done  by  that,  especially  in  the  Christian 
course ;  and  the  old  motto  of  one  of  the  French  repub- 
licans holds  good ;  '  Dare  !  dare  !  always  dare ! '  You 
have  more  on  your  side  than  you  have  against  you, 
and  creeping  prudence  of  calculation  is  not  the  temper 
in  which  the  battle  is  won.  '  Dash '  is  not  always  pre- 
cipitate and  presumptuous.  If  we  have  God  with  us, 
let  us  be  bold  in  fronting  the  dangers  and  difficulties 
that  beset  us,  and  be  sure  that  He  will  help  us. 

IV.  And  now  the  last  point  that  I  would  notice  is 
this — the  all-powerful  plea  which  God  will  answer. 

'  Thou  art  my  God,  let  not  man  prevail  against  Thee.' 
That  prayer  covers  two  things.  You  may  be  quite  sure 
that  if  God  is  your  God  you  will  not  be  beaten ;  and 

K 


146    SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES    [xiv. 

you  may  be  quite  sure  that  if  you  have  made  God's 
cause  yours  He  will  make  your  cause  His,  and  again 
you  will  not  be  beaten. 

'  Thou  art  our  God.'  '  It  takes  two  to  make  a  bargain,' 
and  God  and  we  have  both  to  act  before  He  is  truly 
ours.  He  gives  Himself  to  us,  but  there  is  an  act  of 
ours  required  too,  and  you  must  take  the  God  that 
is  given  to  you,  and  make  Him  yours  because  you  make 
yourselves  His.  And  when  I  have  taken  Him  for  mine, 
and  not  unless  I  have,  He  is  mine,  to  all  intents  of 
strength-giving  and  blessedness.  When  I  can  say, '  Thou 
art  my  God,  and  it  is  impossible  that  Thou  wilt  deny 
Thyself,'  then  nothing  can  snap  that  bond;  and 
'  neither  life  nor  death,  nor  angels,  nor  principalities, 
nor  powers,  nor  things  present,  nor  things  to  come,  nor 
height,  nor  depth,  nor  any  other  creature'  can  do  it. 
But  there  is  a  creature  that  can,  and  that  is  I.  For 
I  can  separate  myself  from  the  love  and  the  guardian- 
ship of  God,  and  He  can  say  to  a  man, '  I  am  thy  God,' 
and  the  man  not  answer,  '  Thou  art  my  God.' 

And  then  there  is  another  plea  here.  '  Let  not  man 
prevail  against  Thee.'  What  business  had  Asa  to 
identify  his  little  kingdom  and  his  victory  with  God's 
cause  and  God's  conquest  ?  Only  this,  that  he  had 
flung  himself  into  God's  arms,  and  because  he  had,  and 
was  trying  to  do  what  God  would  have  him  do,  he  was 
quite  sure  that  it  was  not  Asa  but  Jehovah  that  the 
million  of  Ethiopians  were  fighting  against.  People 
warn  us  against  the  fanaticism  of  taking  for  granted 
that  our  cause  is  God's  cause.  Well,  we  need  the 
warning  sometimes,  but  we  may  be  quite  sure  of  this, 
that  if  we  have  made  God's  cause  ours.  He  will  make 
our  cause  His,  down  to  the  minutest  point  in  our 
daily  lives. 


v.ii]    SEARCH  THAT  ALWAYS  FINDS    147 

And  then,  if  thus  we  say  in  the  depths  of  our  hearts, 
and  live  accordingly,  *  There  is  none  other  that 
fighteth  for  us,  but  only  Thou,  O  God!'  it  will  be 
with  us  as  it  was  with  Asa  in  the  story  before  us, 
'the  enemy  fled,  and  could  not  recover  themselves, 
for  they  were  destroyed  before  the  Lord  and  before 
His  hosts.' 


THE  SEARCH  THAT  ALWAYS  FINDS 

'  They  .  .  .  sought  Him  with  their  whole  desire ;  and  He  was  found  of  them :  and 
the  Lord  gave  them  rest  round  about.'— 2  Chkon.  xv.  15. 

These  words  occur  in  one  of  the  least  familiar  passages 
of  the  Old  Testament.  They  describe  an  incident  in  the 
reign  of  Asa,  who  was  the  grandson  of  Solomon's  foolish 
son  Rehoboam,  and  was  consequently  the  third  king  of 
Judah  after  the  secession  of  the  North.  He  had  just 
won  a  great  victory,  and  was  returning  with  his  tri- 
umphant army  to  Jerusalem,  when  there  met  him  a 
prophet,  unknown  otherwise,  who  poured  out  fiery 
words,  exhorting  Asa  and  his  people  to  cleave  to  God 
and  to  cast  away  their  idols.  Asa,  encouraged  by  the 
prophetic  words  of  this  bold  speaker  for  God,  screwed 
himself  up,  and  was  able  to  induce  also  his  people,  to 
effect  a  great  religious  reformation.  He  made  a  clean 
sweep  of  the  idols,  and  gathered  the  sadly-dwindled 
nation  together  in  Jerusalem,  where  they  renewed  the 
covenant  with  the  Lord  God  of  their  fathers.  The 
text  sums  up  their  work  and  its  result.  '  They  sought 
Him  with  their  whole  heart,  and  He  was  found  of 
them ;  and  the  Lord  gave  them  rest  round  about.'  The 
words  express  in  simplest  form  what  should  be  the 
chief  desire  of  our  hearts  and  occupation  of  our  lives, 


148     SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES    [xv. 

and  what  will  then  be  our  peaceful  experience.  We 
shall  best  bring  out  these  points  if  we  take  the  words 
just  as  they  lie,  and  consider  the  seeking,  the  finding 
which  certainly  crowns  that  seeking,  and  the  rest  which 
ensues  on  finding  God. 

I.  The  seeking. 

Now,  of  course,  there  is  no  doubt  that  what  the 
chronicler  meant  to  describe  by  the  phrase,  '  seeking 
the  Lord,'  was  largely  the  mere  external  acts  of  ritual 
worship,  the  superficial  turning  from  idols  to  a  purely 
external  recognition  of  God  as  the  God  of  Israel.  But 
while  there  may  have  been  nothing  deeper  than  a  change 
in  the  nominal  object  of  nominal  worship,  so  far  as 
many  were  concerned,  no  doubt  a  rery  real  turning  of 
heart  to  God  underlay  the  external  change  in  many 
other  cases,  of  which  the  destruction  of  idols  and  the 
renewed  observance  of  the  form  of  Jehovah's  worship 
were  the  consequence  and  sign.  That  turning  of  mind, 
will,  and  affection  towards  God  must  be  ours  if  we  are 
to  be  among  those  wise  and  happy  seekers  who  are  sure 
to  find  that  which — or  rather  Him  whom — they  seek 
and  to  rest  in  Him  whom  they  find.  That  search  is 
not  after  a  lost  treasure,  nor  does  it  imply  ignorance  of 
where  its  object  is  to  be  found.  We  seek  that  which 
we  know,  and  which  we  may  be  assured  of  finding. 
Therefore  there  need  be  no  tremors  of  uncertainty  in 
our  quest,  and  the  blessedness  of  the  search  is  as  real 
as,  though  different  from,  the  blessedness  of  the  posses- 
sion which  ends  it.  The  famous  saying  which  prefers 
the  search  after,  to  the  possession  of  truth,  is  more 
proud  than  wise ;  but  the  comparison  which  it  institutes 
is  so  far  true  that  there  is  a  joy  in  the  aspiration  after 
and  the  efforts  towards  truth  only  less  joyous  than  that 
which  attends  its  attainment.     But  truth  divorced  from 


V.15]    SEARCH  THAT  ALWAYS  FINDS    149 

God  is  finite  and  may  pall,  become  familiar  and  lose  its 
radiance,  like  a  gathered  flower ;  and  hence  the  prefer- 
ence for  the  search  is  intelligible  though  one-sided. 
But  God  does  not  pall,  and  the  more  we  find  Him  the 
more  we  delight  in  Him;  the  highest  bliss  is  to  find 
Him,  the  next  highest  is  to  seek  Him  ;  and,  since  seek- 
ing and  finding  Him  are  never  wholly  separate,  these 
kindred  joys  blend  their  lights  in  the  experience  of  all 
His  children. 

But  our  text  lays  emphasis  on  the  whole-heartedness 
of  the  people's  seeking  of  God.  The  search  must  be 
earnest  and  engaged  in  with  the  whole  energy  of  our 
whole  being,  if  any  blessing  is  to  come  from  it.  Why  ! 
one  reason  why  the  great  mass  of  professing  Christians 
make  so  little  of  their  religion  is  because  they  are  only 
half-hearted  in  it.  If  you  divide  a  river  into  two 
streams  the  force  of  each  is  less  than  half  the  power  of 
the  original  current ;  and  the  chances  are  that  you  will 
make  a  stagnant  marsh  where  there  used  to  be  a  flow- 
ing stream.  'All  in  all,  or  not  at  all,'  is  the  rule  for  life, 
in  all  departments.  It  is  the  rule  in  daily  business.  A 
man  that  puts  only  half  himself  in  his  profession  or 
trade,  while  the  other  half  of  his  wits  is  gone  wool- 
gathering and  dreaming,  is  predestined  from  all  eternity 
to  fail.  The  same  is  true  about  our  religion.  If  you 
and  I  attend  to  it  as  a  kind  of  by-occupation ;  if  we  give 
the  balance  of  our  time  and  the  superfluity  of  our 
energy,  after  we  have  done  a  hard  day's  work — say,  an 
hour  upon  a  Sunday — to  seeking  God,  and  devote  all 
the  rest  of  the  week  to  seeking  worldly  prosperity,  it  is 
no  wonder  if  our  religion  languishes,  and  is  mainly  a 
matter  of  forms,  as  it  is  with  such  hosts  of  people  that 
call  themselves  Christians. 

Oh !   dear  brethren,  I  do  believe  there  is  more  un- 


150    SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES    [xv. 

conscious  unreality  in  the  average  Christian  man's 
endeavour  to  be  a  better  Christian  than  there  is  in 
almost  anything  else  in  the  world : — 

•  One  foot  on  sea,  and  one  on  shore, 
To  one  thing  constant  never.' 

That  is  why  so  many  of  us  know  nothing  of  a  pro- 
gressive strengthening  of  our  faith,  and  an  increasing 
conquest  of  ourselves,  and  a  firmer  grasp  of  God,  and 
a  fuller  realisation  of  the  blessedness  of  walking  in 
His  ways. 

•  They  sought  Him  with  all  their  heart.'  That  does 
not  mean,  remember,  that  there  are  to  be  no  other 
desires,  for  it  is  a  great  mistake  to  pit  religion  against 
other  things  which  are  meant  to  be  its  instruments  and 
its  helps.  We  are  not  required  to  seek  nothing  else  in 
order  to  seek  God  wholly.  He  demands  no  impossible 
and  fantastic  detachment  of  ourselves  from  the  ordinary 
and  legitimate  occupations,  affections,  and  duties  of 
human  life,  but  He  does  ask  that  the  dominant  desire 
after  Him  should  be  powerful  enough  to  express  itself 
through  all  our  actions,  and  that  we  should  seek  for 
God  in  them,  and  for  them  in  God. 

Whilst  thus  we  are  to  give  the  right  interpretation 
to  that  whole-heartedness  in  our  seeking  God,  on  which 
the  text  lays  stress,  do  not  let  us  forget  that  the  one 
token  of  it  which  the  text  specifies  is,  casting  out  our 
idols.  There  must  be  detachment  if  there  is  to  be 
attachment.  If  some  climbing  plant,  for  instance,  has 
twisted  itself  round  the  unprofitable  thorns  in  the 
hedge,  the  gardener,  before  he  can  get  it  to  go  up  the 
support  that  it  is  meant  to  encircle,  has  carefully  to 
detach  it  from  the  stays  to  which  it  has  wantonly  clung, 
taking  care  that  in  the  process  he  does  not  break  its 


V.15]    SEARCH  THAT  ALWAYS  FINDS    151 

tendrils  and  destroy  its  power  of  growth.  So,  to  train 
our  souls  to  cleave  to  God,  and  to  grow  up  round  the 
great  Stay  that  is  provided  for  us,  there  is  needed,  as 
an  essential  part  of  the  process,  the  voluntary,  conscious, 
conscientious,  and  constant  guarding  of  ourselves  from 
the  vagrancies  of  our  desires,  which  send  out  their 
shoots  away  from  Him  ;  and  when  the  objects  of  these 
become  idols,  then  there  is  nothing  for  it  but  that,  like 
Asa  and  his  people,  we  should  hew  them  to  pieces  and 
make  a  bonfire  of  them ;  and  then  renew  our  covenant 
before  God.  I  desire  to  press  that  upon  you  and  upon 
myself.  The  heart  must  be  emptied  of  baser  liquors,  if 
the  new  wine  of  the  Kingdom  is  to  be  poured  into  it. 

True  it  is,  of  course — and  thank  God  for  it ! — that  the 
most  powerful  agent  in  effecting  that  detachment  of 
ourselves  from  lower  things  is  our  fruition  of  higher. 
It  is  when  God  comes  into  the  temple  that  Dagon  falls 
on  the  threshold.  It  is  when  a  new  affection  begins  to 
spring  in  the  heart  that  old  loves  are  thrust  out 
of  it.  But  whilst  that  is  true,  it  is  also  true  that 
the  two  processes  run  on  simultaneously;  and  that 
whilst,  on  the  one  hand,  if  we  are  ever  to  overcome 
our  love  of  the  world  it  must  be  through  the  love  of 
God,  on  the  other  hand,  if  we  are  ever  to  be  confirmed 
in  a  whole-hearted  love  of  God,  it  must  be  through  our 
conquest  of  our  love  of  the  world.  '  Unite  my  heart  to 
fear  Thy  name '  was  the  profound  prayer  of  the  old 
Psalmist ;  and  the  '  heart,'  according  to  Old  Testament 
usage,  is  the  central  fountain  from  which  flow  all  the 
streams  of  conscious  life.  To  seek  Him  with  the  whole 
heart  is  to  engage  the  whole  self  in  the  quest,  and  that 
is  the  only  kind  of  seeking  which  has  the  certainty  of 
success. 

II.  The  finding  which  crowns  such  seeking. 


152     SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES     [xv. 

•  He  was  found  of  them.'  Yes  ;  anything  is  possible 
rather  than  that  a  whole-hearted  search  after  God 
should  be  a  vain  search.  For  there  are,  in  that  case, 
two  seekers — God  is  seeking  for  us  more  truly  than  we 
are  seeking  for  Him.  And  if  the  mother  is  seeking  her 
child,  and  the  child  its  mother,  it  will  be  a  very  wide 
desert  where  they  will  not  meet.  '  The  Father  seeketh 
such  to  worship  Him,'  that  is — the  divine  activity  is 
going  about  the  world,  searching  for  the  heart  that 
turns  to  Him,  and  it  cannot  but  be  that  they  that  seek 
Him  shall  find  Him,  or  '  shall  be  found  of  Him.'  Open 
the  windows,  and  you  cannot  keep  out  the  sunshine; 
open  your  lungs  and  you  cannot  keep  out  the  air.  '  In 
Him  we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being,'  and  if  our 
desires  turn,  however  blindly,  to  Him,  and  are  accom- 
panied with  the  appropriate  action,  heaven  and  earth 
are  more  likely  to  rush  to  ruin  than  such  a  searching 
to  be  frustrated  of  its  aim. 

Brethren !  is  there  anything  else  in  the  world  of  which 
you  can  say,  *  Seek,  and  ye  shall  find '  ?  You,  with  white 
hairs  on  your  heads,  have  you  found  anything  else  in 
which  the  chase  was  sure  to  result  in  the  capture ;  in 
which  capture  was  sure  to  yield  all  that  the  hunter  had 
wished?  There  is  only  on©  direction  for  a  man's 
desires  and  aims,  in  which  disappointment  is  an  im- 
possibility. In  all  other  regions  the  most  that  can  be 
promised  is  '  Seek,  and  perhaps  you  will  find ' ;  and, 
when  you  have  found,  perhaps  you  will  feel  that  the 
prize  was  not  worth  the  finding.  Or  it  is,  '  Seek,  and 
possibly  you  will  find ;  and  after  you  have  found  and 
kept  for  a  little  while,  you  will  lose.'  Though  it  may 
be 

'  Better  to  have  loved  and  lost, 
Than  never  to  have  loved  at  all.' 


V.15]    SEARCH  THAT  ALWAYS  FINDS    153 

a  treasure  that  slips  out  of  our  fingers  is  not  the  best 
treasure  that  we  can  search  for.  But  here  the  assur- 
ance is,  '  Seek,  and  ye  shall  find ;  and  shall  never  lose. 
Find,  and  you  shall  always  possess.' 

What  would  you  think  of  a  company  of  gold-seekers, 
hunting  about  in  some  exhausted  claim,  for  hypo- 
thetical grains,  ragged,  starving — and  all  the  while  in 
the  next  gully  were  lying  lumps  of  gold  for  the  picking 
up  ?  And  that  figure  fairly  represents  what  people  do 
and  suffer  who  seek  for  good  and  do  not  seek  for  God. 

III.  The  rest  which  ensues  on  finding  God. 

'  The  Lord  gave  them  rest  round  about.'  We  believe 
that  the  Jewish  nation  was  under  special  supernatural 
guidance,  so  that  national  adherence  to  the  Law  was 
always  followed  by  external  prosperity.  That  is  not,  of 
course,  the  case  with  us.  But  which  is  the  better  thing, 
*  rest  round  about '  or  rest  within  ?  We  have  no  immun- 
ity fromi  toil  or  conflict.  Seeking  God  does  not  cover 
our  heads  from  the  storm  of  external  calamities,  nor 
arm  our  hearts  against  the  darts  and  daggers  of  many 
a  pain,  anxiety,  and  care,  but  disturbance  around  is 
a  very  small  matter  if  there  be  a  better  thing,  rest 
within. 

Do  you  remember  who  it  was  that  said,  •  In  the  world 
ye  shall  have  tribulation  .  .  .  but  in  Me  ye  shall  have 
peace '  ?  Then  we  have,  as  it  were,  two  abodes— one, 
as  far  as  regards  the  life  of  sense,  in  the  world  of  sense 
— another,  as  far  as  regards  the  inmost  self,  which  may, 
if  we  will,  be  in  Christ.  A  vessel  with  an  outer  casing 
and  a  layer  of  air  between  it  and  the  inner  will  keep 
its  contents  hot.  So  we  may  have  round  us  the  very 
opposite  of  repose,  and,  if  God  so  wills,  let  us  not 
kick  against  His  will ;  we  may  have  conflict  and  stir 
and  strife,  and  yet  a  better  rest  than  that  of  my  text 


154    SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES    [xv. 

may  be  ours.  'Rest  round  about'  is  sometimes  good 
and  sometimes  bad.  It  is  often  bad,  for  it  is  the 
people  that  '  have  no  changes '  who  most  usually  *  do 
not  fear  God.'  But  rest  within,  that  is  sure  to  come 
when  a  man  has  sought  with  all  his  desire  for  God, 
whom  he  has  found  in  all  His  fullness,  is  only  good  and 
best  of  all. 

We  all  know,  thank  God !  in  worldly  matters  and  in 
inferior  degree,  how  blessed  and  restful  it  is  when  some 
strong  affection  is  gratified,  some  cherished  desire  ful- 
filled. Though  these  satisfactions  are  not  perpetual,  nor 
perfect,  they  may  teach  us  what  a  depth  of  blessed  and 
calm  repose,  incapable  of  being  broken  by  any  storms 
or  by  any  tasks,  will  come  to  and  abide  with  the  man 
whose  deepest  love  is  satisfied  in  God,  and  whose  most 
ardent  desires  have  found  more  than  they  sought  for 
in  Him.  Be  sure  of  this,  dear  friends  !  that  if  we  do 
thus  seek,  and  thus  find,  it  is  not  in  the  power  of  any- 
thing •  that  is  at  enmity  with  joy '  utterly  to  '  abolish  or 
destroy '  the  quietness  of  our  hearts.  '  Rest  in  the  Lord, 
and  wait  patiently  for  Him.'  They  who  thus  repose 
will  have  peace  in  their  hearts,  even  whilst  tasks  and 
temptations,  changes  and  sorrows,  disturb  their  out- 
ward lives.  '  In  the  world  ye  shall  have  tribulation.' 
Be  it  so  ;  it  may  be  borne  with  submission  and  thank- 
fulness if  in  Christ  we  have  peace. 

Thus  we  may  have  the  peace  of  God,  rest  in  and  from 
Him,  entering  into  us,  and  in  due  time,  by  His  gracious 
guidance  and  help,  we  shall  enter  into  eternal  rest. 
Whilst  to  seek  is  to  find  Him,  in  a  very  deep  and  blessed 
sense,  even  in  this  life  ;  in  another  aspect  all  our  earthly 
life  may  be  regarded  as  seeking  after  Him,  and  the 
future  as  the  true  finding  of  Him.  That  future  will 
bring  to   those  whose  hearts  have  turned  from  the 


V.15]        JEHOSHAPHAT'S  REFORM  155 

shows  and  vanities  of  time  to  God  a  possession  of  Him 
so  much  fuller  than  was  experienced  here  that  the 
lesser  discoveries  and  enjoyments  of  Him  which  are 
experienced  here,  scarcely  deserve  in  comparison  to  be 
called  by  the  same  name.  So  my  text  may  be  taken,  as 
in  its  first  part,  a  description  of  the  blessed  life  here — 
'  They  sought  Him  with  all  their  heart ' — and  in  its 
second,  as  a  shadowy  vision  of  the  yet  more  blessed  life 
hereafter,  *  He  was  found  of  them,  and  the  Lord  gave 
them  rest  round  about,'  as  well  as  within,  in  the  land 
of  peace,  where  sorrow  and  sighing,  and  toil  and  care, 
shall  pass  from  memory ;  and  they  that  warred  against 
us  shall  be  far  away. 


JEHOSHAPHAT'S  REFORM 

*  And  Jehoshaphat  his  son  reigned  in  his  stead,  and  strengthened  himself  against 
Israel.  2.  And  he  placed  forces  in  all  the  fenced  cities  of  Judah,  and  set  garrisons 
in  the  land  of  Judah,  and  in  the  cities  of  Ephraim,  which  Asa  his  father  had 
taken.  3.  And  the  Lord  was  with  Jehoshaphat,  hecause  he  walked  in  the  first 
ways  of  his  father  David,  and  sought  not  unto  Baalim ;  4.  But  sought  to  the  Lord 
God  of  his  father,  and  walked  in  His  commandments,  and  not  after  the  doings 
of  Israel.  5.  Therefore  the  Lord  established  the  kingdom  in  his  hand;  and  all 
Judah  brought  to  Jehoshaphat  presents ;  and  he  had  riches  and  honour  in  abund- 
ance. 6.  And  his  heart  was  lifted  up  in  the  ways  of  the  Lord  :  moreover  he  took 
away  the  high  places  and  groves  out  of  Judah.  7.  Also  in  the  third  year  of  his 
reign  he  sent  to  his  princes,  even  to  Ben-hail,  and  to  Obadiah,  and  to  Zechariah, 
and  to  Nethaneel,  and  to  Michaiah,  to  teach  in  the  cities  of  Judah.  8.  And  with 
them  he  sent  Levites,  even  Shemaiah,  and  Nethaniah,  and  Zebadiah,  and  Asahel, 
and  Shemiramoth,  and  Jehonathan,  and  Adonijah,  and  Tobijah,  and  Tob- 
adonijah,  Levites:  and  with  them  Elishama  and  Jehoram,  priests.  9,  And  they 
taught  in  Judah,  and  had  the  book  of  the  law  of  the  Lord  with  them,  and  went 
about  throughout  all  the  cities  of  Judah,  and  taught  the  people.  10.  And  the 
fear  of  the  Lord  fell  upon  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  lands  that  were  round  about 
Judah,  so  that  they  made  no  war  against  Jehoshaphat.'— 2  Chron.  xvii.  1-10. 

The  first  point  to  be  noted  in  this  passage  is  that 
Jehoshaphat  followed  in  the  steps  of  Asa  his  father. 
Stress  is  laid  on  his  adherence  to  the  ancestral  faith, 
*  the  first  ways  of  his  father  David,' — before  his  great 
fall,— and  the  paternal  example,  '  he  sought  to  the  God 
of  his  father.'    Such  carrying  on  of  a  predecessor's  work 


156  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xvii. 

is  rare  in  the  line  of  kings  of  Judah,  where  father  and 
son  were  seldom  of  the  same  mind  in  religion.  The 
principle  of  hereditary  monarchy  secures  peaceful  suc- 
cession, but  not  continuity  of  policy.  Many  a  king  of 
Judah  had  to  say  in  his  heart  what  Ecclesiastes  puts 
into  Solomon's  mouth,  *I  hated  all  my  labour,  .  .  . 
seeing  that  I  must  leave  it  unto  the  man  that  shall 
be  after  me.  And  who  knoweth  whether  he  shall  be 
a  wise  man  or  a  fool  ? ' 

But  it  is  not  only  in  kings'  houses  that  that  experience 
is  realised.  Many  a  home  is  saddened  to-day  because 
the  children  do  not  seek  the  God  of  their  fathers.  '  In- 
stead of  the  fathers '  should  '  come  up  thy  children ' ; 
but,  alas !  grandmother  Lois  and  mother  Eunice  do  not 
always  see  the  boy  who  has  known  the  Scriptures  from 
a  child  grow  up  into  a  Timothy,  in  whom  their  un- 
feigned faith  lives  again.  The  neglect  of  religious 
instruction  in  professedly  Christian  families,  the  in- 
consistent lives  of  parents  or  their  too  rigid  restraints, 
or,  sometimes,  their  too  lax  discipline,  are  to  be  blamed 
for  many  such  cases.  But  there  are  many  instances 
in  which  not  the  parents,  but  the  children,  are  to  be 
blamed.  An  earnest  Sunday-school  teacher  may  do 
much,  to  lead  the  children  of  godly  parents  to  their 
father's  God.  Blessed  is  the  home  where  the  golden 
chain  of  common  faith  binds  hearts  together,  and 
family  love  is  elevated  and  hallowed  by  common  love 
of  God ! 

Jehoshaphat's  religion  was,  further,  resolutely  held 
in  the  face  of  prevailing  opposition.  '  The  Baalim '  were 
popular;  it  was  fashionable  to  worship  them.  They 
were  numerous,  and  all  varieties  of  taste  could  find  a 
Baal  to  please  them.  But  this  young  king  turned  from 
the  tempting  ways  that  opened  flower-strewn  before 


vsi-ioj     JEHOSHAPHAT'S  REFORM        157 

him,  and  chose  the  narrow  road  that  led  upwards.  '  So 
did  not  I,  because  of  the  fear  of  God,'  might  have  been 
his  motto.  A  similar  determined  setting  of  our  faces 
God- ward,  in  spite  of  the  crowd  of  tempting  false  deities 
around  us,  must  mark  us,  if  we  are  to  have  any  religion 
worth  calling  by  the  name.  This  king  recoiled  from 
the  example  of  the  neighbouring  monarchy,  and  walked 
'not  after  the  doings  of  Israel.'  His  seeking  to  God 
was  very  practical,  for  it  was  not  shown  simply  by 
professed  beliefs  or  by  sentiment,  but  by  ordering  his 
life  in  obedience  to  God's  will.  The  test  of  real  religion 
is,  after  all,  a  life  unlike  the  lives  of  the  men  who  do 
not  share  our  faith,  and  moulded  in  accordance  with 
God's  known  will.  It  is  vain  to  allege  that  we  are 
seeking  the  Lord  unless  we  are  walking  in  His  com- 
mandments. 

Prosperity  followed  godliness,  in  accordance  with  the 
divinely  appointed  connection  between  them  which 
characterised  the  Old  Dispensation.  '  Prosperity  is  the 
blessing  of  the  Old  Testament ;  adversity  is  the  blessing 
of  the  New,'  says  Bacon.  But  the  epigram  is  too  neat  to 
be  entirely  true,  for  the  Book  of  Job  and  many  a  psalm 
show  that  the  eternal  problem  of  suffering  innocence 
was  raised  by  facts  even  in  the  old  days,  and  in  our 
days  there  are  forms  of  well-being  which  are  the  natural 
fruits  of  well-doing.  Still,  the  connection  was  closer  in 
Judah  than  with  us,  and,  in  the  case  before  us,  the 
establishment  of  Jehoshaphat  in  the  kingdom,  his  sub- 
jects' love,  which  showed  itself  in  voluntary  gifts  over 
and  above  the  taxes  imposed,  and  his  wealth  and  honour, 
were  the  direct  results  of  his  true  religion. 

A  really  devout  man  must  be  a  propagandist.  True 
faith  cannot  be  hid  nor  be  dumb.  As  certainly  as  light 
must  radiate  must  faith  strive  to  communicate  itself. 


158  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xvii. 

So  the  account  of  Jehoshaphat's  efforts  to  spread  the 
worship  of  Jehovah  follows  the  account  of  his  personal 
godliness.  *  His  heart  was  lifted  up  in  the  ways  of  the 
Lord.'  There  are  two  kinds  of  lifted-up  hearts;  one 
when  pride,  self-sufficiency,  and  forgetfulness  of  God, 
raise  a  man  to  a  giddy  height,  from  which  God's  judg- 
ments are  sure  to  cast  him  down  and  break  him  in  the 
fall ;  one  when  a  lowly  heart  is  raised  to  high  courage 
and  devotion,  and  '  set  on  high,'  because  it  fears  God's 
name.  Such  elevation  is  consistent  with  humility.  It 
fears  no  fall ;  it  is  an  elevation  above  earthly  desires 
and  terrors,  neither  of  which  can  reach  it,  so  as  to 
hinder  the  man  from  walking  in  '  the  ways  of  the  Lord.' 
This  king  was  lifted  to  it  by  his  happy  experience  of 
the  blessed  effects  of  obedience.  These  encouraged  him 
to  vigorous  efforts  to  spread  the  religion  which  had  thus 
gladdened  and  brightened  his  own  life.  Is  that  the  use 
we  make  of  the  ease  which  God  gives  us  ? 

Jehoshaphat  had  to  destroy  first,  in  order  to  build 
up.  The  'high  places  and  Asherim'  had  to  be  taken 
out  of  Judah  before  the  true  worship  could  be  estab- 
lished there.  So  it  is  still.  The  Christian  has  to  carry 
a  sword  in  the  one  hand,  and  a  trowel  in  the  other. 
Many  a  rotten  old  building,  the  stones  of  which  have 
been  cemented  in  blood,  has  to  be  swept  away  before 
the  fair  temple  can  be  reared.  The  Devil  is  in  possession 
of  much  of  the  world,  and  the  lawful  owner  has  to  dis- 
possess the  '  squatter.'  No  one  can  suppose  that  society 
is  organised  on  Christian  principles  even  in  so-called 
'  Christian  countries ' ;  and  there  is  much  overturning 
work  to  be  done  before  He  whose  right  it  is  to  reign  is 
really  king  over  the  whole  earth.  We,  too,  have  our 
•  high  places  and  Asherim '  to  root  out. 

But  that  destructive  work  is  not  to  be  done  by  force. 


vs.  1-10]     JEHOSHAPHAT'S  REFORM        159 

Institutions  can  only  be  swept  away  when  public  opinion 
has  grown  to  see  their  evils.  Forcible  reformations  of 
manners,  and,  still  more,  of  religion,  never  last,  but  are 
sure  to  be  followed  by  violent  rebounds  to  the  old  order. 
So,  side  by  side  with  the  removal  of  idolatry,  this  king 
took  care  to  diffuse  the  knowledge  of  the  true  worship, 
by  sending  out  a  body  of  influential  commissioners  to 
teacTi  in  Judah.  That  was  a  new  departure  of  great 
importance.  It  presents  several  interesting  features. 
The  composition  of  the  staff  of  instructors  is  remark- 
able. The  principal  men  in  it  are  five  court  officers, 
next  to  whom,  and  subordinate,  as  is  shown  not  only 
by  the  order  of  enumeration,  but  by  the  phrase  *  with 
them,'  were  nine  Levites,  and,  last  and  lowest  of  all, 
two  priests.  We  might  have  expected  that  priests 
should  be  the  most  numerous  and  important  members 
of  such  a  body,  and  we  are  led  to  suspect  that  the 
priesthood  was  so  corrupted  as  to  be  careless  about 
religious  reformation.  A  clerical  order  is  not  always 
the  most  ardent  in  religious  revival.  The  commis- 
sioners were  probably  chosen,  without  regard  to  their 
being  priests,  Levites,  or  '  laymen,'  because  of  their  zeal 
in  the  worship  of  Jehovah ;  and  the  five  '  princes '  head 
the  list  in  order  to  show  the  royal  authority  of  the 
commission. 

Another  point  is  the  emphasis  with  which  their 
function  of  teaching  is  thrice  mentioned  in  three  verses. 
Apparently  the  bulk  of  the  nation  knew  little  or  no- 
thing of  'the  law  of  the  Lord,'  either  on  its  spiritual 
and  moral  or  its  ceremonial  side;  and  Jehoshaphat's 
object  was  to  effect  an  enlightened,  not  a  forcible  and 
superficial,  change.  God's  way  of  influencing  actions 
is  to  reveal  Himself  to  the  understanding  and  the  heart, 
that  these  may  move  the  will,  and  that  may  shape  the 


160  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xvii. 

deeds.  Wise  men  will  imitate  God's  way.  Jehoshaphat 
did  not  issue  royal  commands,  but  sent  out  teachers. 
In  chapter  xix.  we  find  him  despatching  'judges'  in 
similar  fashion  throughout  Judah.  They  had  the  power 
to  punish,  but  these  teachers  had  only  authority  to 
explain  and  to  exhort. 

The  present  writer  accepts  the  chronicler's  statement 
that  the  teachers  had '  the  Book  of  the  Law '  with  them, 
though  he  recognises  it  as  possible  that  that  *  Book '  was 
not  identical  with  the  complete  collection  of  documents 
which  now  bears  the  name.  But,  be  that  as  it  may, 
the  incident  of  our  text  is  remarkable  as  being  the 
only  recorded  systematic  and  complete  attempt  to 
diffuse  the  remedy  against  idolatry  throughout  the 
kingdom,  as  putting  religious  reformation  on  its  only 
sure  ground,  and  as  hinting  at  deep  and  widespread 
ignorance  among  the  masses. 

'When  a  man's  ways  please  the  Lord,  He  maketh 
even  his  enemies  to  be  at  peace  with  him.'  So  Judah 
found.  'A  terror  of  the  Lord  fell  upon  all  the  king- 
doms '  around.  No  doubt,  the  news  filtered  to  them  of 
how  Jehovah  was  exerting  His  might  on  the  nation, 
and  a  certain  indefinable  awe  of  this  so  potent  god, 
who  was  defeating  the  Baalim,  made  them  think  that 
peace  was  the  best  policy.  Each  nation  was  supposed 
to  have  its  own  god,  and  the  national  god  was  supposed 
to  fight  for  his  worshippers ;  so  that  war  was  a  struggle 
of  deities  as  well  as  of  men,  and  the  stronger  god  won. 
Here  was  a  god  who  had  reconquered  his  territory,  and 
had  cast  out  usurpers.  Prudence  dictated  keeping  on 
good  terms  with  him.  But  it  never  occurred  to  any  of 
these  peoples  that  their  own  gods  were  any  less  real 
than  Judah's,  or  that  Judah's  God  could  ever  become 
theirs. 


AMASIAH 

'Amasiah,  the  son  of  Zichri,  who  willingly  offered  himBelf  unto  the  Lord.'— 
2  Chron.  xvii.  16. 

This  is  a  scrap  from  the  catalogue  of  Jehoshaphat's 
*  mighty  men  of  valour ' ;  and  is  Amasiah's  sole  record. 
We  see  him  for  a  moment  and  hear  his  eulogium  and 
then  oblivion  swallows  him  up.  We  do  not  know 
what  it  was  that  he  did  to  earn  it.  But  what  a  fate, 
to  live  to  all  generations  by  that  one  sentence ! 

I.  Cheerful  self -surrender  the  secret  of  all  religion. 

The  words  of  our  text  contain  a  metaphor  naturally 
drawn  from  the  sacrificial  system.  It  comes  so  easily 
to  us  that  we  scarcely  recognise  the  metaphorical 
element,  but  the  clear  recognition  of  it  gives  great 
additional  energy  to  the  words.  Amasiah  was  both 
sacrificer  and  sacrifice.  His  offering  was  self-immola- 
tion. As  in  all  love,  so  in  that  noblest  kind  of  it 
which  clasps  God,  its  perfect  expression  is,  '  I  give  Thee 
my  living,  loving  self.'  Nor  is  it  only  sacrifice  and 
sacrificer  that  are  seen  in  deepest  truth  in  the  ex- 
perience of  the  Christian  life,  but  the  reality  of  the 
Temple  is  also  there,  for  'Ye  also  .  .  .  are  built  up  a 
spiritual  house,  to  be  a  holy  priesthood,  to  offer  up 
spiritual  sacrifices.'  Only  when  God  dwells  in  us,  shall 
we  have  the  nerve  and  the  firmness  of  hand  to  take 
the  knife  and  '  slay  before  the  Lord,'  the  awful  Guest 
in  the  sanctuary  within,  the  most  precious  of  the  chil- 
jdren  of  our  spirits. 

The  essence  of  the  sacrifice  of  self  is  the  sacrifice 
of  will.  In  th6  Christian  experience  '  willingly  offered ' 
is  almost  tautology,  for  unwilling  offerings  are  a  con- 
tradiction and  in  fact  there  are  no  such  things.    The 

Ii 


162  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xvii. 

quality  of  unwillingness  destroys  the  character  of  the 
offering  and  robs  it  of  all  sacredness.  Reluctant 
Christianity  is  not  Christianity.  That  noun  and  that 
adjective  can  never  be  buckled  together. 

The  submission  of  will  and  the  consequent  surrender 
of  myself  and  my  powers,  opportunities,  and  posses- 
sions, so  that  I  do  all,  enjoy  all,  use  all,  and  when 
need  is,  endure  all  with  glad  thankful  reference  to 
God  is  only  possible  to  me  in  the  measure  in  which 
my  will  is  made  flexible  by  love,  and  such  will-subduing 
love  comes  only  when  we  '  know  and  believe  the  love 
that  God  hath  to  us.'  There  is  the  point  at  which 
not  a  few  moral  and  religious  teachers  go  wrong  and 
bewilder  themselves  and  their  disciples.  There,  too,  is 
the  point  at  which  Christ  and  the  Gospel  of  salvation 
through  faith  in  Him  stand  forth  as  emancipating 
humanity  from  the  dreary  round  of  efforts  and  vain 
attempts  to  work  up  the  condition  needful  for  achieving 
the  height  of  self-surrender,  which  is  seen  to  be  in- 
dispensable to  all  true  nobleness  of  living,  but  is  felt 
to  be  beyond  the  reach  of  the  ordinary  man.  There, 
too,  is  the  point  at  which  many  good  people  mar  their 
lives  as  Christians.  They  waste  their  strength  in 
trying  to  bring  the  jibbing  horse  up  to  the  leap.  They 
try  to  blow  up  a  fire  of  devotion  and  to  make  them- 
selves priests  to  offer  themselves,  but  all  the  while 
the  mutinous  self  recoils  from  the  leap,  and  the  fire 
burns  smokily,  and  their  sacrifice  is  laid  on  the  altar 
with  little  joy,  because  they  have  not  been  careful  and 
wise  enough  to  begin  at  the  beginning  and  to  follow 
God's  way  of  melting  their  wills,  by  love,  the  reflection 
of  the  Infinite  love  of  God  to  them.  God's  priests  offer 
themselves  because  they  offer  their  wills;  they  offer  their 
wills  because  they  love  God ;  they  love  God  because  they 


V.  16]  AMASIAH  163 

know  that  God  loves  them.    That  is  the  divine  order. 
It  is  vain  to  try  to  accomplish  the  end  by  any  other. 

II.  This  willing  offering  hallows  all  life. 

No  syllable  is  left  to  tell  us  what  Amasiah  did  to 
win  this  praise.  Probably  the  words  enshrine  some 
now  forgotten  memory  of  his  cheerful  courage,  some 
heroic  feat  on  an  unrecorded  battlefield.  Particulars 
are  not  given  nor  needed.  Specific  actions  are  un- 
important; the  spirit  of  a  life  can  be  told  with  very 
incomplete  details,  and  it,  not  the  details,  is  the  im- 
portant thing.  Sometimes,  as  in  many  modern  bio- 
graphies, one  '  cannot  see  the  wood  for  the  trees,'  and 
misses  the  main  drift  and  aim  of  a  life  in  the  chaos 
of  a  bewildering  mass  of  nothings.  How  much  more 
happy  the  lot  of  this  man  of  whom  we  have  only 
the  generalised  expression  of  the  text,  unweighted  and 
undisturbed  by  petty  incidents !  It  takes  tons  of  rose 
leaves  to  make  a  tiny  phial  of  otto  of  roses,  but  the 
fragrance  is  far  more  pungent  in  a  drop  of  the  dis- 
tillation than  in  armf uls  of  leaves.  Every  life  shrinks 
into  very  small  compass,  and  the  centuries  do  not 
tolerate  long  biographies.  Shall  we  not  seek  to  order 
our  life  so  that  Amasiah's  epitaph  may  serve  for  us? 
It  will  be  blessed  if  this — and  nothing  else — is  known 
about  us,  that  we  '  willingly  offered  ourselves  to  the 
Lord.'  My  friend !  will  that  be  a  true  epitome  of  your 
life? 

III.  This  willing  offering  is  accepted  by  God. 

We  may  hear  a  mightier  voice  behind  the  chronicler's, 
and  the  judgment  of  the  Judge  of  all  pronounced  by 
His  lips.  It  matters  little  what  men  say  of  one  another, 
but  it  matters  everything  what  God  says  of  us.  We 
are  but  too  apt  to  forget  that  He  is  now  saying  some- 
thing as  to  each  of  us,  and  that  we  have  not  to  wait 


164   SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xvii. 

for  death  to  put  a  final  period  to  our  activities,  before 
our  lives  become  fit  subjects  for  God's  judgment. 
Moment  by  moment  we  are  writing  our  own  sentences. 
But  while  it  is  good  for  us  to  remember  the  continuous 
judgment  of  God  on  each  deed,  it  is  not  good  to  let 
dark  thoughts  of  the  principles  of  that  judgment 
paralyse  our  activity  or  chill  our  confidence  in  His 
forgiving  and  accepting  mercy.  There  is  often  a  dark 
suspicion,  like  that  of  the  one-talented  servant,  which 
blackens  God's  fair  fame  as  being  'an  austere  Man,' 
making  demands  rather  than  imparting  power,  and 
the  effect  of  such  an  ugly  conception  of  Him  is  to 
cut  the  nerve  of  service  and  bury  the  talent,  carefully 
folded  up,  it  may  be,  but  none  the  less  earning  nothing. 
'  If  we  call  on  Him  as  Father,  who  without  respect  of 
persons  judgeth  according  to  every  man's  work,'  let 
us  be  sure  that  it  will  be  a  Fatherly  judgment  that 
He  will  pass  upon  us  and  our  offerings.  There  is  a 
wonderful  collection  on  His  altar  of  what  many  people 
would  think  rubbish,  just  as  many  a  mother  has  laid 
away  among  her  treasures  some  worthless  article 
which  her  child  had  once  given  her — a  weed  plucked 
by  the  roadside  in  a  long  past  summer  day,  some 
trifle  of  rare  preciousness  in  the  child's  eyes,  and  of 
none  in  any  others  than  her  own.  She  opens  her 
drawer  and  brings  out  the  poor  little  thing,  and  her 
eyes  fill  and  her  heart  fills  as  she  looks.  And  does 
not  God  keep  His  children's  gifts  as  lovingly,  and  set 
them  in  places  of  honour  in  the  day  when  He  '  makes 
up  His  jewels'?  There  are  cups  of  cold  water  and 
widows'  mites  and  much  else  that  a  supercilious  world 
would  call  *  trash '  stored  there.  Thank  God !  He  accepts 
imperfect  service,  faltering  faith,  partial  consecration, 
a  little  love.    Even  our  poor  offering  may  be  an  *  odour 


V.16]    'MIRROR  FOR  MAGISTRATES'       165 

of  a  sweet  smell,'  ministering  fragrance  that  is  a  delight 
to  Him,  if  it  is  offered  with  the  much  incense  of  the 
great  Sacrifice  and  through  the  mediation  of  the  great 
High  Priest. 

The  world  forgot  Amasiah,  or  never  knew  him,  an 
obscure  soldier  in  an  obscure  kingdom,  but  God  did 
not  forget,  and  here  is  his  epitaph,  and  this  is  his 
memorial  to  all  generations.  Men's  chronicles  have 
no  room  for  all  the  names  that  their  wearers  are 
eager  to  have  inscribed  on  their  crumbling  and  crowded 
pages,  '  but  the  Lamb's  Book  of  Life '  has  ample  space 
on  its  radiant  pages  for  all  who  desire  to  set  their 
names  there,  and  if  ours  are  there,  we  need  not  envy 
the  proudest  whose  titles  and  deeds  fill  the  most  con- 
spicuous pages  in  the  world's  records.  'Then  shall 
every  man  have  praise  of  Christ,'  and  he  who  wins  that 
guerdon  needs  nothing  more,  and  can  have  nothing 
more  to  swell  his  blessedness. 


'A  MIRROR  FOR  MAGISTRATES' 

*  And  Jehoshaphat  the  king  of  Judah  returned  to  his  house  in  peace  to  Jeru- 
salem. 2.  And  Jehu  the  son  of  Hanani  the  seer  went  out  to  meet  him,  and  said  to 
king  Jehoshaphat,  Shouldest  thou  help  the  ungodly,  and  love  them  that  hate  the 
Lord  ?  therefore  is  wrath  upon  thee  from  before  the  Lord.  3.  Nevertheless  there 
are  good  things  found  in  thee,  in  that  thou  hast  taken  away  the  groves  out  of  the 
land,  and  hast  prepared  thine  heart  to  seek  God.  4.  And  Jehoshaphat  dwelt  at 
Jerusalem  :  and  he  went  out  again  through  the  people  from  Beer-sheba  to  mount 
Ephraim,  and  brought  them  back  unto  the  Lord  God  of  their  father.^.  5.  And  he 
set  judges  in  the  land  throughout  all  the  fenced  cities  of  Judah,  city  by  city, 
6.  And  said  to  the  judges,  Take  heed  what  ye  do  :  for  ye  judge  not  for  man,  but 
for  the  Lord,  who  is  with  you  in  the  judgment.  7.  Wherefore  now  let  the  fear  of 
the  Loi-d  be  upon  you ;  take  heed  and  do  it :  for  there  is  no  iniquity  with  the 
Lord  our  God,  nor  respect  of  persons,  nor  taking  of  gifts.  8.  Moreover  in  Jeru- 
salem did  Jehoshaphat  set  of  the  Levites,  and  of  the  priests,  and  of  the  chief  of 
the  fathers  of  Israel,  for  the  judgment  of  the  Lord,  and  for  controversies,  when 
they  returned  to  Jerusalem.  9.  And  he  charged  them,  saying.  Thus  shall  ye  do  in 
the  fear  of  the  Lord,  faithfully,  and  with  a  perfect  heart.  10.  And  what  cause 
soever  shall  come  to  you  of  your  brethren  that  dwell  in  their  cities,  between 
blood  and  blood,  between  law  and  commandment,  statutes  and  judgments,  ye 
shall  even  warn  them  that  they  trespass  not  against  the  Lord,  and  so  wrath 
come  upon  you,  and  upon  your  brethren  :  this  do,  and  ye  shall  not  trespass.  11.  And, 


166   SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES    [xix. 

behold,  Amariah  the  chief  priest  is  over  yon  in  all  matters  of  the  Lord ;  and 
Zebadiah  the  son  of  Ishmael,  the  ruler  of  the  house  of  Judah,  for  all  the  king's 
matters:  also  the  Levites  shall  be  officers  before  you.  Deal  courageously,  and 
the  Lord  shall  be  with  the  good.'— 2  Chron.  xix.  1-11. 

Jehoshaphat  is  distinguished  by  two  measures  for 
his  people's  good :  one,  his  sending  out  travelling 
preachers  through  the  land  (2  Chron.  xvii.  7-9) ;  another, 
this  provision  of  local  judges  and  a  central  court  in 
Jerusalem,  The  former  was  begun  as  early  as  the 
third  year  of  his  reign,  but  was  probably  interrupted, 
like  other  good  things,  by  his  ill-omened  alliance  with 
Ahab.  The  prophet  Jehu's  plain  speaking  seems  to 
have  brought  the  king  back  to  his  better  self,  and  its 
fruit  was  his  going  '  among  the  people,'  from  south  to 
north,  as  a  missionary,  *  to  bring  them  back  to  Jehovah.' 
The  religious  reformation  was  accompanied  by  his 
setting  judges  throughout  the  land.  Our  modem  way 
of  distinguishing  between  religious  and  civil  concerns 
is  foreign  to  Eastern  thought,  and  was  especially  out 
of  the  question  in  a  theocracy.  Jehovah  was  the  King 
of  Judah ;  therefore  the  things  that  are  Caesar's  and 
the  things  that  are  God's  coalesced,  and  these  two 
objects  of  Jehoshaphat's  journeyings  were  pursued 
simultaneously.  We  have  travelled  far  from  his  simple 
institutions,  and  our  course  has  not  been  all  progress. 
His  supreme  concern  was  to  deal  out  even-handed 
justice  between  man  and  man ;  is  not  ours  rather  to 
give  ample  doses  of  law  ?  To  him  the  judicial  function 
was  a  copy  of  God's,  and  its  exercise  a  true  act  of 
worship,  done  in  His  fear,  and  modelled  after  His 
pattern.  The  first  impression  made  in  one  of  our  courts 
is  scarcely  that  judge  and  counsel  are  engaged  in 
worship. 

There  had  been  local  judges  before  Jehoshaphat — 
elders  in  the  villages,  the  '  heads  of  the  fathers'  houses ' 


▼8.1-11]    *MIRROR  FOR  MAGISTRATES'    167 

in  the  tribes.  "We  do  not  know  whether  the  great 
secession  had  flung  the  simple  old  machinery  somewhat 
out  of  gear,  or  whether  Jehoshaphat's  action  was 
simply  to  systematise  and  make  universal  the  existing 
arrangements.  But  what  concerns  us  most  is  to  note 
that  all  the  charge  which  he  gives  to  these  peasant 
magistrates  bears  on  the  religious  aspect  of  their 
duties.  They  are  to  think  themselves  as  acting  for 
Jehovah  and  with  Jehovah.  If  they  recognise  the 
former,  they  may  be  confident  of  the  latter.  They  are 
to  '  let  the  fear  of  Jehovah  be  upon  you,'  for  that  awe 
resting  on  a  spirit  will,  like  a  burden  or  water- jar  on 
a  woman's  shoulder,  make  the  carriage  upright  and 
the  steps  firm.  They  are  not  only  to  act  for  and  with 
Jehovah,  but  to  do  like  Him,  avoiding  injustice, 
favouritism,  and  corruption,  the  plague-spots  of  Eastern 
law-courts.  In  such  a  state  of  society,  the  cases  to  be 
adjudicated  were  mostly  such  as  mother-wit,  honesty 
and  the  fear  of  God  could  solve ;  other  times  call  for 
other  qualifications.  But  still,  let  us  learn  from  this 
charge  that  even  in  our  necessarily  complicated  legal 
systems  and  political  life,  there  is  room  and  sore  need 
for  the  application  of  the  same  principles.  What  a 
different  world  it  would  be  if  our  judges  and  repre- 
sentatives carried  some  tincture  of  Jehoshaphat's 
simple  and  devout  wisdom  into  their  duties !  Civic 
and  political  life  ought  to  be  as  holy  as  that  of  cloister 
and  cell.  To  judge  righteously,  to  vote  honestly,  is  as 
much  worship  as  to  pray.  A  politician  may  be  •  a  priest 
of  the  Most  High  God.' 

And  for  us  all  the  spirit  of  JehoshaiDhat's  charge  is 
binding,  and  every  trivial  and  secular  task  is  to  be 
discharged  for  God,  with  God,  in  the  fear  of  God.  '  On 
the  bells  of  the  horses  shall  be  Holiness  unto  Jehovah.' 


168    SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES    [xix. 

If  our  religion  does  not  drive  the  wheels  of  daily  life, 
so  much  the  worse  for  our  life  and  our  religion.  But, 
above  all,  this  charge  reminds  us  that  the  secret  of  right 
living  is  to  imitate  God.  These  peasants  were  to  find 
direction,  as  well  as  inspiration,  in  gazing  on  Jehovah's 
character,  and  trying  to  copy  it.  And  we  are  to  be 
'  imitators  of  God,  as  beloved  children,'  though  our 
best  efforts  may  only  produce  poor  results.  A  master- 
piece may  be  copied  in  some  w^retched  little  newspaper 
blotch,  but  the  great  artist  will  own  it  for  a  copy,  and 
correct  it  into  complete  likeness. 

The  second  step  was  to  establish  a  '  supreme  court ' 
in  Jerusalem,  which  had  two  divisions,  ecclesiastical 
and  civil,  as  we  should  say,  the  former  presided  over 
by  the  chief  priest,  and  the  latter  by  '  the  ruler  of  the 
house  of  Judah.'  Murder  cases  and  the  graver  ques- 
tions involving  interpretation  of  the  law  were  sent  up 
thither,  while  the  village  judges  had  probably  to  decide 
only  points  that  shrewdness  and  integrity  could  settle. 
But  these  superior  judges,  too,  received  charges  as  to 
moral,  rather  than  intellectual  or  learned  qualifica- 
tions. Religiously,  uprightly,  'with  a  perfect  heart,' 
courageously,  they  were  to  act,  *  and  Jehovah  be  with 
the  good ! '  That  may  be  a  prayer,  like  the  old  invoca- 
tion with  which  heralds  sent  knights  to  tilt  at  each 
other,  and  with  which,  in  some  legal  proceedings,  the 
pleas  are  begun,  *  God  defend  the  right ! '  But  more 
probably  it  is  an  assurance  that  God  will  guide  the 
judges  to  favour  the  good  cause,  if  they  on  their  parts 
will  bring  the  aforesaid  qualities  to  their  decisions. 
And  are  not  these  qualities  just  such  as  will,  for  the 
most  part,  give  similar  results  to  us,  if  in  our  various 
activities  we  exercise  them  ?  And  may  we  not  see  a 
sequence  worth   our  practically  putting  to  the  proof 


vs.  1-11]    'MIRROR  FOR  MAGISTRATES'    169 

in  these  characteristics  enjoined  on  Jehoshaphat's 
supreme  court  ?  Begin  with  '  the  fear  of  the  Lord ' ; 
that  will  help  us  to  '  faithfulness  and  a  perfect  heart ' ; 
and  these  again  by  taking  away  occasions  of  ignoble 
fear,  and  knitting  together  the  else  tremulous  and 
distracted  nature,  will  make  the  fearful  brave  and  the 
weak  strong. 

But  another  thought  is  suggested  by  Jehoshaphat's 
language.  Note  how  this  court  does  not  seem  to 
have  inflicted  punishments,  but  to  have  had  only 
counsels  and  warnings  to  wield.  It  was  a  board 
of  conciliation  rather  than  a  penal  tribunal.  Two 
things  it  had  to  do — to  press  upon  the  parties  the 
weighty  consideration  that  crimes  against  men  were 
sins  against  God,  and  that  the  criminal  drew  down 
wrath  on  the  community.  This  remarkable  provision 
brings  out  strongly  thoughts  that  modern  society 
will  be  the  better  for  incorporating.  The  best  way 
to  deal  with  men  Is  to  get  at  their  hearts  and  con- 
sciences. The  deeper  aspect  of  civil  crimes  or  wrongs 
to  men  should  be  pressed  on  the  doer ;  namely,  that 
they  are  sins  against  God.  Again,  all  such  acts  are 
sins  against  the  mystical  sacred  bond  of  brotherhood. 
Again,  the  solidarity  of  a  nation  makes  it  inevitable 
that  '  one  sinner  destroyeth  much  good,'  and  pulls 
down  with  him,  when  God  smites  him,  a  multitude  of 
innocents.  So  finely  woven  is  the  web  of  the  national 
life  that,  if  a  thread  run  in  any  part  of  it,  a  great  rent 
gapes.  If  one  member  sins,  all  the  members  suffer 
with  it.  And  lastly,  the  cruellest  thing  that  we  can  do 
is  to  be  dumb  when  we  see  sin  being  committed.  It  is 
not  public  men,  judges  and  the  like,  alone,  who  are 
called  on  thus  to  ^varn  evil-doers,  but  all  of  us  in  our 
degree.     If   we  do  not,   we  are  guilty  along  with  a 


170     SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES    [xx. 

guilty  nation ;  and  it  is  only  when,  to  the  utmost  of 
our  power,  we  have  warned  our  brethren  as  to  national 
sins,  that  we  can  wash  our  hands  in  innocency.  •  This 
do,  and  ye  shall  not  be  guilty.' 


7  A  STRANGE  BATTLE 

'  We  have  no  might  against  this  great  company  that  cometh  against  VLB ;  neither 
know  we  what  to  do :  bnt  our  eyes  are  upon  Thee.'— 2  Chron.  xx.  12. 

A  FORMIDABLE  combination  of  neighbouring  nations, 
of  which  Moab  and  Ammon,  the  ancestral  enemies  of 
Judah,  were  the  chief,  was  threatening  Judah.  Jehosh- 
aphat,  the  king,  was  panic-stricken  when  he  heard  of 
the  heavy  war-cloud  that  was  rolling  on,  ready  to  burst 
in  thunder  on  his  little  kingdom.  His  first  act  was 
to  nmster  the  nation,  not  as  a  military  levy  but  as 
suppliants, '  to  seek  help  of  the  Lord.'  The  enemy  was 
camping  down  by  the  banks  of  the  Dead  Sea,  almost 
within  striking  distance  of  Jerusalem.  It  seemed  a 
time  for  fighting,  not  for  praying,  but  even  at  that 
critical  moment,  the  king  and  the  men,  whom  it  might 
have  appeared  that  plain  duty  called  to  arms,  were 
gathered  in  the  Temple,  and,  hampered  by  their  wives 
and  children,  were  praying.  Would  they  not  have  done 
better  if  they  had  been  sturdily  marching  through  the 
wilderness  of  Judah  to  front  their  foes?  Our  text  is 
the  close  and  the  climax  of  Jehoshaphats  prayer,  and, 
as  the  event  proved,  it  was  the  most  powerful  weapon 
that  could  have  been  employed,  for  the  rest  of  the 
chapter  tells  the  strangest  story  of  a  campaign  that 
was  ever  written.  No  sword  was  drawn.  The  army 
was  marshalled,  but  Levites  with  their  instruments  of 
music,  not  fighters  with  their  spears,  led  the  van,  and 


V.  12]  A  STRANGE  BATTLE  171 

as  '  they  began  to  sing  and  to  praise,'  sudden  panic  laid 
hold  on  the  invading  force,  who  turned  their  arms 
against  each  other.  So  when  Judah  came  to  some 
rising  ground,  on  which  stood  a  watch-tower  com- 
manding a  view  over  the  savage  grimness  of  'the 
wilderness,'  it  saw  a  field  of  corpses,  stark  and  stiff  and 
silent.  Three  days  were  spent  in  securing  the  booty, 
and  on  the  fourth,  Jehoshaphat  and  his  men  *  assembled 
themselves  in  the  Valley  of  Blessing,'  and  thence  re- 
turned a  joyous  multitude  praising  God  for  the  victory 
which  had  been  won  for  them  without  their  having 
struck  a  blow.  The  whole  story  may  yield  large  lessons, 
seasonable  at  all  times.  We  deal  with  it,  rather  than 
with  the  fragment  of  the  narrative  which  we  have 
taken  as  our  text. 

I.  We  see  here  the  confidence  of  despair. 

Jehoshaphat's  prayer  had  stayed  itself  on  God's  self- 
revelation  in  history,  and  on  His  gift  of  the  land  to  their 
fathers.  It  had  pleaded  that  the  enemy's  hostility  was 
a  poor  'reward'  for  Israel's  ancient  forbearance,  and 
now,  with  a  burst  of  agony,  it  casts  down  before  God, 
as  it  were,  Judah's  desperate  plight  as  outnumbered  by 
the  swarm  of  invaders  and  brought  to  their  last  shifts — 
'we  have  no  might  against  this  great  company  .  .  . 
neither  know  we  what  to  do.'  But  the  very  depth  of 
despair  sets  them  to  climb  to  the  height  of  trust.  That 
is  a  mighty  '  But,'  which  buckles  into  one  sentence  two 
such  antitheses  as  confront  us  here.  'We  know  not 
what  to  do,  but  our  eyes  are  upon  Thee ' — blessed  is  the 
desperation  which  catches  at  God's  hand;  firm  is  the 
trust  which  leaps  from  despair ! 

The  helplessness  is  always  a  fact,  though  most  of  us 
manage  to  get  along  for  the  most  part  without  dis- 
covering it.    We  are  all  outnumbered  and  overborne  by 


172    SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES    [xx. 

the  claims,  duties,  hindrances,  sorrows,  and  entangle- 
ments of  life.  He  is  not  the  wisest  of  men  who,  facing 
all  that  life  may  bring  and  take  away,  all  that  it  must 
bring  and  take  away,  knows  no  quiver  of  nameless 
fear,  but  jauntily  professes  himself  ready  for  all  that 
life  can  inflict.  But  there  come  moments  in  every  life 
when  the  false  security  in  which  shallow  souls  wrap 
themselves  ignobly  is  broken  up,  and  then  often  a 
paroxysm  of  terror  or  misery  grips  a  man,  for  which  he 
has  no  anodyne,  and  his  despair  is  as  unreasonable  as  his 
security.  The  meaning  of  all  circumstances  that  force 
our  helplessness  on  us  is  to  open  to  us  Jehoshaphat's 
refuge  in  his — '  our  eyes  are  upon  Thee.'  We  need  to 
be  driven  by  the  crowds  of  foes  and  dangers  around 
to  look  upwards.  Our  props  are  struck  away  that  we 
may  cling  to  God.  The  tree  has  its  lateral  branches 
hewed  off  that  it  may  shoot  up  heavenward.  When 
the  valley  is  filled  with  mist  and  swathed  in  evening 
gloom,  it  is  the  time  to  lift  our  gaze  to  the  peaks  that 
glow  in  perpetual  sunshine.  Wise  and  happy  shall  we 
be  if  the  sense  of  helplessness  begets  in  us  the  energy 
of  a  desperate  faith.  For  these  two,  distrust  of  self  and 
glad  confidence  in  God,  are  not  opposites,  as  naked  dis- 
trust and  trust  are,  but  are  complementary.  He  does 
not  turn  his  eyes  to  God  who  has  not  turned  them  on 
himself,  and  seen  there  nothing  to  which  to  cling, 
nothing  on  which  to  lean.  Astronomers  tell  us  that 
there  are  double  stars  revolving  round  one  axis  and 
forming  a  unity,  of  which  the  one  is  black  and  the 
other  brilliant.  Self-distrust  and  trust  in  God  are  thus 
knit  together  and  are  really  one. 

II.  We  see  here  the  peaceful  assurance  of  victory 
that  attends  on  faith. 

A  flash  of  inspiration  came  to  one  of  the  Levitical 


V.12]  A  STRANGE  BATTLE  173 

singers  who  had,  no  doubt,  been  deeply  moved  and  had 
unconsciously  fitted  himself  for  receiving  it.  Divinely 
breathed  confidence  illuminated  his  waiting  spirit,  and 
a  great  message  of  encouragement  poured  from  his 
lips.  His  words  heartened  the  host  more  than  a 
hundred  trumpets  braying  in  their  ears.  How  much 
one  man  who  has  drunk  in  God's  assurance  of  victory 
can  do  to  send  a  thrill  of  his  own  courage  through 
more  timorous  hearts!  Courage  is  no  less  contagious 
than  panic.  This  Levite  becomes  the  commander  of  the 
army,  and  Jehoshaphat  and  his  captains  'bow  their 
heads'  and  accept  his  plan  for  to-morrow,  hearing  in 
his  ringing  accents  a  message  from  Jehovah.  The 
instructions  given  and  at  once  accepted  are  as  unlike 
those  of  ordinary  warfare  as  is  the  whole  incident ;  for 
there  is  to  be  no  sword  drawn  nor  blow  struck,  but 
they  are  to  *  stand  still  and  see  the  salvation  of  the 
Lord.'  They  are  told  where  to  find  the  enemy  and  are 
bid  to  go  forth  in  order  of  battle  against  them,  and  they 
are  assured  'that  the  battle  is  not  theirs,  but  God's.' 
No  wonder  that  the  message  was  hailed  as  from  heaven, 
and  put  new  heart  into  the  host,  or  that,  when  the 
messenger's  voice  ceased,  his  brother  Levites  broke  into 
shrill  praise  as  for  a  victory  alrieady  won.  With  what 
calm,  triumphant  hearts  the  camp  would  sleep  that 
night ! 

May  we  not  take  that  inspired  Levite's  message  as 
one  to  ourselves  in  the  midst  of  our  many  conflicts 
both  in  the  outward  life  and  in  the  inward?  If  we 
have  truly  grasped  God's  hands,  and  are  fighting  for 
what  is  accordant  with  His  will,  we  have  a  right  to  feel 
that '  the  battle  is  not  ours  but  God's,'  and  to  be  sure 
that  therefore  we  shall  conquer.  Of  course  we  are  not 
to  say  to  ourselves,  '  God  will  fight  for  us,  and  we  need 


174    SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES     [xx. 

not  strike  a  blow.'  Jehoshaphat's  example  does  not  fit 
our  case  in  that  respect,  and  we  may  thank  God  that  it 
does  not.  We  have  a  better  lot  than  to  '  stand  still  and 
see  the  salvation  of  God,'  for  we  are  honoured  by  being 
allowed  to  share  the  stress  of  conflict  and  the  glow  of 
battle  as  well  as  in  the  shout  of  victory.  But  even 
in  the  struggles  of  outward  life,  and  much  more  in 
those  of  our  spiritual  nature,  every  man  who  watches 
his  own  career  will  many  a  time  have  to  recognise 
God's  hand,  unaided  by  any  act  of  his  own,  striking  for 
him  and  giving  him  victory;  and  in  the  spiritual  life 
every  Christian  man  knows  that  his  best  moments  have 
come  from  the  initiation  of  the  Spirit  who  'bloweth 
where  He  listeth.'  How  often  we  have  been  surprised 
by  God's  help ;  how  often  we  have  been  quickened  by 
God's  inbreathed  Spirit,  and  have  been  taught  that  the 
passivity  of  faith  draws  to  us  greater  blessings  than  the 
activity  of  effort!  'They  also  serve  who  only  stand 
and  wait,'  and  they  also  conquer  who  in  quietness  and 
confidence  keep  themselves  still  and  let  God  work  for 
them  and  in  them.  The  first  great  blessing  of  trust  in 
God  is  that  we  may  be  at  peace  on  the  eve  of  battle, 
and  the  second  is  that  in  every  battle  it  is,  in  truth,  not 
we  that  fight,  but  God  who  fights  for  and  in  us. 

III.  We  learn  here  the  best  preparation  for  the  con- 
flict. 

When  the  morning  dawned,  the  array  was  set  in 
order  and  the  march  begun,  and  a  strange  array  it  was. 
In  the  van  marched  the  Temple  singers  singing  words 
that  are  music  to  us  still :  '  Give  thanks  unto  the  Lord, 
for  His  mercy  endureth  for  ever,'  and  behind  them  came 
the  ranks  of  Judah,  no  doubt  swelling  the  volume  of 
melody,  that  startled  the  wild  creatures  of  the  wilder- 
ness, and  perhaps  travelled  through  the  still  morning 


V.12]  A  STRANGE  BATTLE  175 

as  far  as  the  camp  of  the  enemy.  The  singers  had  no 
armour  nor  weapons.  They  were  clad  in  '  the  beauty 
of  holiness,'  the  priestly  dress,  and  for  sword  and  spear 
they  carried  harps  and  timbrels.  Our  best  weapons  are 
like  their  equipment. 

We  are  most  likely  to  conquer  if  we  lift  up  the  voice 
of  thanks  for  victory  in  advance,  and  go  into  the  battle 
expecting  to  triumph,  because  we  trust  in  God.  The 
world's  expectation  of  success  is  too  often  a  dream,  a 
will-o'-the-wisp  that  tempts  to  bogs  where  the  beguiled 
victim  is  choked,  though  even  in  the  world  it  is  often 
true ;  '  screw  your  courage  to  the  sticking  point,  and 
we'll  not  fail.'  But  faith,  that  is  the  expectation  of 
success  based  on  God's  help  and  inspiring  to  struggles 
for  things  dear  to  His  heart,  is  wont  to  fulfil  itself,  and 
by  bringing  God  into  the  fray,  to  secure  the  victory.  A 
thankful  heart  not  seldom  brings  into  existence  that 
for  which  it  is  thankful. 

IV.  We  see  here  the  victory  and  the  praise  for  it. 

The  panic  that  laid  hold  on  the  enemy,  and  turned 
their  swords  against  each  other,  was  more  natural  in  an 
undisciplined  horde  such  as  these  irregular  levies  of 
ancient  times,  than  it  would  be  in  a  modern  army. 
Once  started,  the  infection  would  spread,  so  we  need 
not  wonder  that  by  the  time  that  Judah  arrived  on  the 
field  all  was  over.  How  often  a  like  experience  attends 
us!  We  quiver  with  apprehension  of  troubles  that 
never  attack  us.  We  dread  some  impending  battle- 
field, and  when  we  reach  it,  Jehoshaphat's  surprise  ia 
repeated,  'and,  behold  they  were  dead  bodies,  fallen  to 
the  earth.'  Delivered  from  foes  and  fears,  Judah's  first 
impulse  was  to  secure  the  booty,  for  they  were  keen 
after  wealth,  and  their  'faith'  was  not  very  pure  or 
elevating.    But  their  last  act  was  worthier,  and  fitly 


176     SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES    [xx. 

ended  the  strange  campaign.  They  gathered  in  some 
wady  among  the  grim  cliffs  of  the  wilderness  of  Judah, 
which  broke  the  dreariness  of  that  savage  stretch  of 
country  with  perhaps  verdure  and  a  brook,  and  there 
they  *  blessed  the  Lord.'  The  chronicler  gives  a  piece  of 
popular  etymology,  in  deriving  the  name, '  the  valley  of 
blessing,'  from  that  morning's  worship.  Perhaps  the 
name  was  older  than  that,  and  was  given  from  a  feeling 
of  the  contrast  between  the  waste  wilderness,  which  in  its 
gaunt  sterility  seemed  an  accursed  land,  and  the  glen 
which  with  its  trees  and  stream  was  indeed  a  *  valley  of 
blessing.'  If  so,  the  name  would  be  doubly  appropriate 
after  that  day's  experience.  Be  that  as  it  may,  here  we 
have  in  vivid  form  the  truth  that  all  our  struggles  and 
fightings  may  end  in  a  valley  of  blessing,  which  will 
ring  with  the  praise  of  the  God  who  fights  for  us.  If 
we  begin  our  warfare  with  an  appeal  to  God,  and  with 
prayerful  acknowledgment  of  our  own  impotence,  we 
shall  end  it  with  thankful  acknowledgment  that  we  are 
'  more  than  conquerors  through  Him  that  loved  us '  and 
fought  for  us,  and  our  choral  song  of  praise  will  echo 
through  the  true  Valley  of  Blessing,  where  no  sound  of 
enemies  shall  ever  break  the  settled  stillness,  and  the 
host  of  the  redeemed,  like  that  army  of  Judah,  shall 
bear  '  psalteries  and  harps  and  trumpets,'  and  shall  need 
spear  and  sword  no  more  at  all  for  ever. 


HOLDING  FAST  AND  HELD  FAST 

'  As  they  went  forth  Jehoshaphat  stood  and  said.  Believe  in  the  Lord  your  God, 
BO  shall  ye  be  established.'— 2  Chron.  xx.  20. 

Certainly  no  stronger  army  ever  went  forth  to  victory 
than  these  Jews,  who  poured  out  of  Jerusalem  that 


V.  20]  HOLDING  FAST  177 

morning  with  no  weapon  in  all  their  ranks,  and  having 
for  their  van,  not  their  picked  men,  but  singers  who 
'praised  the  beauty  of  holiness'  and  chanted  the  old 
hymn,  '  Give  thanks  unto  the  Lord,  for  His  mercy 
endureth  for  ever.'  That  was  all  that  men  had  to  do 
in  the  battle,  for  as  the  shrill  song  rose  in  the  morning 
air  *  the  Lord  set  liers  in  wait  for  the  foe,'  and  they 
turned  their  swords  against  one  another,  so  that  when 
Jehoshaphat  and  his  troops  came  in  sight  of  the  enemy 
the  battle  was  over  and  the  field  strewn  with  corpses — 
so  great  and  swift  is  the  power  of  devout  recognition 
of  God's  goodness  and  trust  in  His  enduring  mercy, 
even  in  the  hour  of  extremest  peril. 

The  exhortation  in  our  text  which  is  Jehoshaphat's 
final  word  to  his  army,  has,  in  the  original,  a  beauty 
and  emphasis  that  are  incapable  of  being  preserved 
in  translation.  There  is  a  play  of  words  which  can- 
not be  reproduced  in  another  language,  though  the 
sentiment  of  it  may  be  explained.  The  two  expres- 
sions for  'believing'  and  'being  established'  are  two 
varying  forms  of  the  same  root- word;  and  although 
we  can  only  imitate  the  original  clumsily  in  our  lan- 
guage, we  might  translate  in  some  such  way  as  this : 
'  Hold  fast  by  the  Lord  your  God,  and  you  will  be  held 
fast,'  or  '  stay  yourselves  on  Him  and  you  will  be  stable.' 
These  attempts  at  reproducing  the  similarity  of  sound 
between  the  two  verbs  in  the  two  clauses  of  our  text, 
rude  as  they  are,  preserve  what  is  lost,  so  far  as  regards 
form,  in  the  English  translation,  though  that  is  correct 
as  to  the  meaning  of  the  command  and  promise.  If  we 
note  this  connection  of  the  two  clauses  we  just  come  to 
the  general  principle  which  lies  here,  that  the  true 
source  of  steadfastness  in  character  and  conduct,  of 
victory    over    temptation,    and    of    standing   fast   in 

M 


178    SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES    [xx. 

slippery  places,  is  simple  reliance,  or,  to  use  the  New 
Testament  word,  'faith.'  'Believe  and  ye  shall  be 
established.'  Put  out  your  hand  and  clasp  Him,  and 
He  puts  out  His  hand  and  steadies  you.  But  all  the 
steadfastness  and  strength  come  from  the  mighty 
Hand  that  is  outstretched,  not  from  the  tremulous  one 
that  grasps  it. 

So,  then,  keeping  to  the  words  of  my  text,  let  me 
suggest  to  you  the  large  lessons  that  this  saying  teaches 
us,  in  regard  to  three  things,  which  I  may  put  as  being 
the  object,  the  nature,  and  the  issues  of  faith;  or,  in 
other  words,  to  whom  we  are  to  cling,  how  we  are  to 
cling,  and  what  the  consequence  of  the  clinging  is. 

I.  To  whom  we  must  cling. 

*  Stay  yourselves  on  the  Lord  your  God.'  Well,  then, 
faith  is  not  believing  a  number  of  theological  articles, 
nor  is  it  even  accepting  the  truth  of  the  Gospel  as  it 
lies  in  Jesus  Christ,  but  it  is  accepting  the  Christ  whom 
the  truth  of  the  Gospel  reveals  to  us.  And,  although 
we  have  to  come  to  Him  through  the  word  that  declares 
what  He  is,  and  what  He  has  done  for  us,  the  act  of 
believing  on  Him  is  something  that  lies  beyond  the  mere 
understanding  of,  or  giving  credence  to,  the  message 
that  tells  us  who  He  is  and  what  He  has  done.  A  man 
may  have  not  the  ghost  of  a  doubt  or  hesitation  about 
one  tittle  of  revealed  truth,  and  if  you  were  to  cross- 
question  him,  could  answer  satisfactorily  all  the  ques- 
tions of  an  orthodox  inquisitor,  and  yet  there  may  not 
be  one  faintest  flicker  of  faith  in  that  man's  whole 
being,  for  all  the  correctness  of  his  creed,  and  the  com- 
prehensiveness of  it,  too.  Trust  is  more  than  assent. 
If  it  is  a  Person  on  whom  our  faith  leans,  then  from 
that  there  follows  clearly  enough  that  the  bond  which 
binds  us  to  Him  must  be  something  far  warmer,  far 


V.  20]  HOLDING  FAST  179 

deeper,  and  far  more  under  the  control  of  our  own  will 
than  the  mere  consent  or  assent  of  our  brains  to  a  set 
of  revealed  truths.  *  The  Lord  your  God,'  and  not  even 
the  Bible  that  tells  you  about  Him;  'the  Lord  your 
God,'  and  not  even  the  revealed  truths  that  manifest 
Him,  but  Him  as  revealed  by  the  truths — it  is  He  that 
is  the  Object  to  which  our  faith  clings. 

Jehoshaphat,  in  the  same  breath  in  which  he  ex- 
horted his  people  to  'believe  in  the  Lord,  that  they 
might  be  established,'  also  said,  '  Believe  His  prophets, 
so  shall  ye  prosper.'  The  immediate  reference,  of 
course,  was  to  the  man  who  the  day  before  had  assured 
them  of  victory.  But  the  wider  truth  suggested  is, 
that  the  only  way  to  get  to  God  is  through  the  word 
that  speaks  of  Him,  and  which  has  come  from  the  lips 
either  of  prophets  or  of  the  Son  who  has  spoken  more, 
and  more  sweetly  and  clearly,  than  all  the  prophets  put 
together.  If  we  are  to  believe  God,  we  must  believe 
the  prophets  that  tell  us  of  Him. 

And  then  there  is  another  suggestion  that  may  be 
made.  The  Object  of  faith  proposed  to  Judah  is  not 
only  '  the  Lord,'  but '  the  Lord  your  God.'  I  do  not  say 
that  there  can  be  no  faith  without  the  '  appropriating ' 
action  which  takes  the  whole  Godhead  for  mine,  but  I 
doubt  very  much  whether  there  is  any.  And  it  seems  to 
me  that  to  a  very  large  extent  the  difference  between 
mere  nominal,  formal  Christians  and  men  who  really 
are  living  by  the  power  of  faith  in  God  as  revealed  in 
Jesus  Christ, lies  in  that  one  little  word,  'the  Lord  your 
God.'  That  a  man  shall  put  out  a  grasping  hand,  and 
say,  *I  take  for  my  own — for  my  very  own — the  uni- 
versal blessing,  I  claim  as  my  possession  that  God  of 
the  spirits  of  all  flesh,  I  believe  that  He  does  stand  in 
a  real  individualising  relation  to  me,  and  I  to  Him,'  is 


180    SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES    [xx. 

surely  of  the  very  essence  of  faith.  There  is  no  pre- 
sumption, but  the  truest  wisdom  and  lowliness  in 
enclosing,  if  I  may  so  say,  a  part  of  this  great  common 
for  ours,  and  putting  a  hedge  about  it,  as  it  were,  and 
saying,  '  That  is  mine.'  We  shall  not  have  understood 
the  sweetness  and  the  power  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ  until  we  have  pointed  and  condensed  the  general 
declaration,  'He  so  loved  the  world,'  into  the  indivi- 
dualising and  appropriating  one,  'He  loved  me,  and 
gave  Himself  for  me.'  Oh !  if  we  could  only  apply  that 
process  thoroughly  to  all  the  broad  glorious  words  and 
promises  of  Scripture,  and  feel  that  the  whole  incidence 
of  them  was  meant  to  fall  upon  us,  one  by  one,  and 
that  just  as  the  sun,  up  in  the  heavens  there,  sends  all 
his  beams  into  the  tiniest  daisy  on  the  grass,  as  if  there 
was  nothing  else  in  the  whole  world,  but  only  its  little 
petals  to  be  smoothed  out  and  opened,  I  think  our 
Christianity  would  be  more  real,  and  we  should  have 
more  blessings  in  our  hands.  God  in  Christ  and  I,  the 
only  two  beings  in  the  universe,  and  all  His  fullness 
mine,  and  all  my  weakness  supported  and  supple- 
mented by  Him — that  is  the  view  that  we  should 
sometimes  take.  We  should  set  ourselves  apart  from 
all  mankind,  and  claim  Him  as  our  very  own,  and  so 
be  filled  with  the  fullness  of  God. 

This,  then,  is  the  Object  of  faith,  a  Person  who  is  all 
mine  and  all  yours  too.  The  beam  of  light  that  falls 
on  my  eye  falls  on  yours,  and  no  man  makes  a  sunbeam 
the  smaller  because  he  sees  by  it ;  and  in  like  manner 
we  may  each  possess  the  whole  of  God  for  our  very 
own  property. 

II.  How  we  cling. 

The  metaphor,  I  suppose,  is  more  eloquent  than  all 
explanations  of  it.    '  Believe  in  the  Lord ' ;  hold  fast  by 


V.20]  HOLDING  FAST  181 

Him  with  a  tight  grip,  continually  renewed  when  it 
tends  to  slacken,  as  it  surely  will,  and  then  you  will  be 
established. 

We  might  run  out  into  any  number  of  figurative 
illustrations.  Look  at  that  little  child  beginning  to 
learn  to  walk,  how  it  fastens  its  little  dimpled  hands 
into  its  mother's  apron,  and  so  the  tiny  tottering  feet 
get  a  kind  of  steadfastness  into  them.  Look  at  that 
man  lying  at  the  door  of  the  Temple,  who  never  had 
walked  since  his  mother's  womb,  and  had  lain  there 
for  forty  years,  with  his  poor  weak  ankles  all  atrophied 
by  reason  of  their  disuse.  'He  held  Peter  and  John.' 
Would  not  his  grasp  be  tight?  Would  he  not  clasp 
their  hands  as  his  only  stay?  He  had  not  become 
accustomed  to  the  astounding  miracle  of  walking,  nor 
learned  to  balance  himself  and  accomplish  the  still  more 
astounding  feat  of  standing  steady.  So  he  clutched  at 
the  two  Apostles  and  was  •  established.'  Look  at  that 
man  walking  by  a  slippery  path  which  he  does  not 
know,  holding  by  the  hand  the  guide  who  is  able  to 
direct  and  keep  him  up.  See  this  other  in  some  wild 
storm,  with  an  arm  round  a  steadfast  tree-stem,  to  keep 
him  from  being  blown  over  the  precipice,  how  he  clings 
like  a  limpet  to  a  rock.  And  that  is  how  we  are  to 
hold  on  to  God,  with  what  would  be  despair  if  it  were 
not  the  perfection  of  confidence,  with  the  clear  sense 
that  the  only  thing  between  us  and  ruin  is  the  strong 
Hand  that  we  clasp. 

And  what  do  we  mean  by  clasping  God?  I  mean 
making  daily  efforts  to  rivet  our  love  on  Him,  and 
not  to  let  the  world,  with  all  its  delusive  and  cloying 
sweets,  draw  us  away  from  Him.  I  mean  continual 
and  strenuous  efforts  to  fix  our  thoughts  upon  Him, 
and  not  to  allow  the  trivialities  of  life,  or  the  claims  of 


182    SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES    [xx. 

culture,  or  the  necessities  of  our  daily  position  so  to 
absorb  our  minds  as  that  thoughts  of  God  are  com- 
parative strangers  there,  except,  perhaps,  sometimes 
on  a  Sunday,  and  now  and  then  at  the  sleepy  end, 
or  the  half-awake  beginning,  of  a  day.  I  mean  con- 
tinually repeated  and  strenuous  efforts  to  cleave  to 
Him  by  the  submission  of  owr  will,  letting  Him  *  do 
what  seemeth  Him  good,'  and  not  lifting  ourselves  up 
against  Him,  or  perking  our  own  inclinations,  desires, 
and  fancies  in  His  face,  as  if  we  would  induce  Him  to 
take  them  for  His  guides !  And  I  mean  that  we  should 
try  to  commit  our  way  unto  the  Lord,  'to  rest  in  the 
Lord,  and  wait  patiently  for  Him.*  The  submissive  will 
which  cleaves  to  God's  commandments,  the  waiting 
heart  that  clings  to  His  love,  the  regulated  thoughts 
that  embrace  His  truth,  and  the  childlike  confidence 
that  commits  its  path  to  Him — these  are  the  elements 
of  that  steadfast  adherence  to  the  Lord  which  shall  not 
be  in  vain. 

III.  The  blessed  effects  of  this  clinging  to  God. 

*So  shall  ye  be  established.'  That  follows,  as  a 
matter  of  course.  The  only  way  to  make  light  things 
stable  is  to  fasten  them  to  something  that  is  stable. 
And  the  only  way  to  put  any  kind  of  calmness  and 
fixedness,  and  yet  progress — stability  in  the  midst  of 
progress,  and  progress  in  the  midst  of  stability — into 
our  lives,  is  by  keeping  firm  hold  of  God.  If  we  grasp 
His  hand,  then  a  calm  serenity  will  be  ours.  In  the 
midst  of  changes,  sorrows,  losses,  disappointments,  we 
shall  not  be  blown  about  here  and  there  by  furious 
winds  of  fortune,  nor  will  the  heavy  currents  of  the 
river  of  life  sweep  us  away.  We  shall  have  a  holdfast 
and  a  mooring.  And  although,  like  some  light-ship 
anchored  in  the  Channel,  we  may  heave  up  and  down 


V.  20]  HOLDING  FAST  183 

with  the  waves,  we  shall  keep  in  the  same  place,  and 
be  steadfast  in  the  midst  of  mobility,  and  wholesomely 
mobile  although  anchored  in  the  one  spot  where  there 
is  safety.  As  the  issue  of  faith,  of  this  throwing  the 
responsibility  for  ourselves  upon  God,  there  will  be 
quietness  of  heart,  and  continuance  and  persistence  in 
righteousness,  and  steadfastness  of  purpose  and  con- 
tinuity of  advancement  in  the  divine  life.  '  The  law  of 
the  Lord  is  in  his  heart,'  says  one  of  the  Psalms,  *  none 
of  his  steps  shall  slide.'  The  man  who  walks  holding 
God's  hand  can  put  down  a  firm  foot,  even  when  he  is 
walking  in  slippery  places.  There  will  be  decision,  and 
strength,  and  persistence  of  continuous  advance,  in  a 
life  that  derives  its  impulse  and  its  motive  power  from 
communion  with  God  in  Jesus  Christ. 

There  will  be  victory,  not  indeed  after  the  fashion  of 
that  in  this  story  before  us.  In  it,  of  course,  men  had 
to  do  nothing  but  '  stand  still  and  see  the  salvation  of 
God.'  That  is  the  law  for  us,  in  regard  to  the  initial 
blessings  of  acceptance,  and  forgiveness,  and  the  com- 
munication of  the  divine  life  from  above.  We  have  to  be 
simple  recipients,  and  we  have  no  co-operating  share  in 
that  part  of  the  work  of  our  own  salvation.  But  for  the 
rest  we  have  to  help  God.  *  Work  out  your  own  salva- 
tion with  fear  and  trembling,  for  it  is  God  that  worketh 
in  you.'  But  none  the  less, '  This  is  the  victory  that  over- 
cometh  the  world,  even  our  faith,'  and  if  we  give  heed 
to  Jehoshaphat's  commandment,  and  go  out  to  battle  as 
his  people  did,  with  the  love  and  trust  of  God  in  our 
hearts,  then  we  shall  come  back  as  they  did,  laden  with 
spoil,  and  shall  name  the  place  which  was  the  field  of 
conflict  'the  valley  of  blessing,'  and  return  to  Jerusalem 
•  with  psalteries,  and  harps,  and  trumpets,'  and  '  God  will 
give  us  rest  from  all  our  enemies  round  about  us.' 


JOASH 

"And  Joash  did  that  which  was  right  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord  all  the  days 
of  Jehoiada  the  priest.  ...  17.  Now  after  the  death  of  Jehoiada  came  the  princes 
of  Judah,  and  made  obeisance  to  the  king.  Then  the  king  hearkened  unto  them. 
—2  Chbon.  xxiv.  2, 17. 

Here  we  have  the  tragedy  of  a  soul.  Joash  begins 
life  well  and  for  the  greater  part  of  it  remains  faithful 
to  his  conscience  and  to  his  duty,  and  then,  when  out- 
ward circumstances  change,  he  casts  all  behind  him, 
forgets  the  past  and  commits  moral  suicide.  It  is  the 
sad  old  story,  a  bright  commencement,  an  early  promise 
all  scattered  to  the  winds.  It  is  a  strange  story, 
too.  This  seven-year-old  king  had  been  saved  when 
his  father  had  been  killed,  and  that  true  daughter  of 
Jezebel,  as  well  by  nature  as  by  blood,  Athaliah,  had 
murdered  all  his  brothers  and  sisters,  and  made  herself 
queen.  He  had  been  saved  by  the  courage  of  a  woman 
who  might  worthily  stand  by  the  side  of  Deborah  and 
other  Jewish  heroines.  By  this  woman,  who  was  his 
aunt,  he  was  hidden  and  brought  up  in  the  Temple 
until,  whilst  yet  a  mere  boy,  he  came  to  the  throne,  the 
High  Priest  Jehoiada,  the  husband  of  his  aunt,  being 
his  guardian  during  his  nonage.  He  reigns  well  till 
the  lad  of  seven  becomes  a  mature  man  of  thirty  or 
thereabouts,  and  then  Jehoiada  dies,  full  of  years  and 
honours,  and  they  fitly  lay  him  among  the  kings  of 
Judah,  a  worthy  resting-place  for  one  who  had  '  done 
good  in  Israel.'  And  now  the  weakling  on  the  throne 
is  left  alone  without  the  strong  arm  to  guide  him  and 
keep  him  right,  and  we  read  that '  the  princes  of  Judah 
cam.e  and  made  obeisance  to  him.  They  take  him  on 
his  weak  side,  and  I  dare  say  Jehoiada  had  been  too 
true  and  too  noble  to  do  that,  and  though  we  are  not  told 

184 


vs.  2, 17]  JOASH  185 

what  means  they  took  to  flatter  and  coax  him,  we  see 
very  plainly  what  they  were  conspiring  to  do,  for 
we  read  that  Hhey  left  the  house  of  the  Lord  their 
God,  the  God  of  their  fathers,  and  served  groves  and 
idols,'  the  groves  here  mentioned  being  symbols  of  Ash- 
taroth  the  goddess  of  the  Sidonians.  And  so  all  the 
past  is  wiped  out  and  Joash  takes  his  place  amongst 
the  apostates.    The  story  has  solemn  lessons. 

I.  Note  the  change  from  loyal  adhesion  to  apostasy. 

The  strong  man  on  whom  Joash  used  to  lean  was 
away,  and  the  poor,  weak  king  went  just  where  the 
wicked  princes  led  him.  It  was  probably  out  of  sheer 
imbecility  that  he  passed  from  the  worship  of  God 
to  the  acknowledgment  and  service  of  idols. 

The  first  point  that  I  would  insist  upon  is  a  well-worn 
and  familiar  one,  as  I  am  well  aware,  but  I  urge  it  upon 
you,  and  especially  upon  the  younger  portion  of  my 
audience.  It  is  this,  that  there  is  no  telling  the  amount 
of  mischief  that  pure  weakness  of  character  may  lead 
into.  The  worst  men  we  come  across  in  the  Bible  are 
not  those  who  begin  with  a  deliberate  intention  of 
doing  evil.  They  are  weak  creatures,  'reeds  shaken  by 
the  wind,'  who  have  no  power  of  resisting  the  force  of 
circumstances.  It  is  a  truth  which  every  one's  experi- 
ence confirms,  that  the  mother  of  all  possible  badness 
is  weakness,  and  that,  not  only  as  Milton's  Satan  puts 
it,  *  To  be  weak  is  to  be  miserable,'  but  that  weakness 
is  wickedness  sooner  or  later.  The  man  who  does  not 
bar  the  doors  and  windows  of  his  senses  and  his  soul 
against  temptation,  is  sure  to  make  shipwreck  of  his 
life  and  in  the  end  to  become  'a  fool.'  There  is  so 
much  wickedness  lying  round  us  in  this  world  that  any 
man  who  lets  himself  be  shaped  and  coloured  by  that 
with  which  he  comes  in  contact,  is  sure  to  go  to  the  bad 


186  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxiv. 

in  the  long  run.  Where  a  man  lays  himself  open  to 
the  accidents  of  time  and  circumstances,  the  majority 
of  these  influences  will  be  contrary  to  what  is  right  and 
good.  Therefore,  he  must  gather  himself  together  and 
learn  to  say '  No !'  There  is  no  foretelling  the  profound 
abysses  into  which  a  *  good,  easy '  nature,  with  plenty 
of  high  and  pure  impulses,  perhaps,  but  which  are 
Avritten  in  water,  may  fall.  *  Thou,  therefore,  young 
man!  be  strong  in  the  grace  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus.' 
Learn  to  say  No !  or  else  you  will  be  sure  to  say  Yes !  in 
the  wrong  place,  and  then  down  you  will  go,  like  this 
Joash  whose  goodness  depended  on  Jehoiada,  and 
when  he  died,  all  the  virtue  that  had  characterised  this 
life  hitherto  was  laid  with  him  in  the  dust. 

Let  us  learn  from  this  story  in  the  next  place,  how 
little  power  of  continuance  there  is  in  a  merely  tradi- 
tional religion.  Many  of  you  call  yourselves  Christian 
people  mainly  because  other  people  do  the  same.  It  is 
customary  to  respect  and  regard  Christianity.  You 
have  been  brought  up  in  the  midst  of  it.  Our  country 
is  always  considered  a  Christian  land,  and  so,  naturally, 
you  tacitly  accept  the  truth  of  a  religion  which  is  so 
influential.  The  lowest  phase  of  this  attitude  is  that 
which  seeks  some  advantage  from  a  church  connection, 
like  the  foolish  man  in  the  Old  Testament  who  thought 
he  would  do  well  because  he  had  a  Levite  for  his  priest. 
Religion  is  the  most  personal  thing  about  a  man.  To 
become  a  Christian  is  the  most  personal  act  one  can 
perform.  It  is  a  thing  that  a  man  has  to  do  for  him- 
self, and  however  friends  and  guides  may  help  us  in 
other  matters,  in  trials  and  perplexities  and  difficulties, 
by  their  sympathy  and  experience,  they  are  useless 
here.  A  man  has  here  to  act  as  if  there  were  no  other 
beings  in  the  universe  but  a  solitary  God  and  himself. 


vs.  2, 17]  JO  ASH  187 

and  unless  we  have  ourselves  done  that  act  in  the 
depths  of  our  own  personality,  we  have  not  done  it  at 
all.  If  you  young  people  are  good,  just  because  you 
have  pious  parents  who  make  you  go  to  church  or  chapel 
on  a  Sunday,  and  keep  you  out  of  mischief  during  the 
week,  your  goodness  is  a  sham.  One  great  result  of 
personal  Christianity  is  to  make  a  minister,  a  teacher, 
a  guide,  superfluous,  and  when  such  an  one  becomes  so, 
his  work  has  been  successful  and  not  till  then.  Unless 
you  put  forth  for  yourself  the  hand  of  faith  and  for 
yourself  yield  up  the  devotion  and  love  of  your  own 
heart,  your  religion  is  nought. 

However  much  active  effort  about  the  outside  of 
religion  there  may  be,  it  is  of  itself  useless.  It  is  with- 
out bottom  and  without  reality.  Here  we  have  Joash 
busy  with  the  externals  of  worship  and  actually  de- 
ceiving himself  thereby.  It  was  a  great  deal  easier  to 
make  that  chest  for  contributions  to  a  Temple  Repair- 
ing Fund,  and  to  get  it  well  filled,  and  to  patch  up  the 
house  of  the  Lord,  than  for  him  to  get  down  on  his  knees 
and  pray,  and  he  may  have  thought  that  to  be  busy 
about  the  house  of  God  was  to  be  devout.  So  it  may  be 
with  many  Sunday-school  teachers  and  Church  workers. 
Their  religion  may  be  as  merely  superficial  and  as  little 
personal  as  this  man's  was.  It  is  not  for  me  to  say  so 
about  A,  B,  or  C.  It  is  for  you  to  ask  of  yourselves  if 
it  is  so  as  to  you.  But  I  do  say  that  there  is  nothing 
that  masks  his  own  soul  from  a  man  more  than  setting 
him  to  do  something  for  Christianity  and  God's  Church, 
while  in  his  inmost  self  he  has  not  yet  yielded  himself 
to  God. 

I  look  around  and  I  see  the  devil  slaying  his  thou- 
sands by  setting  them  to  work  in  Christian  associations 
and  leaving  them  no  time  to  think  about  their  own 


188  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxiv. 

Christianity.  My  brother !  if  the  cap  fits,  go  home  and 
put  it  on. 

We  see  in  Joash's  life  for  how  long  a  time  a  man 
may  go  on  in  this  self-delusion  of  external  and  barren 
service  and  never  know  it.  Joash  came  to  the  throne 
at  the  age  of  seven.  Up  till  that  age  he  had  lived  in  the 
Temple  in  concealment.  Until  he  was  one  and  thirty 
he  went  on  in  a  steady,  upright  course,  never  knowing 
that  there  was  anything  hollow  in  his  life.  Appar- 
ently, Jehoiada's  long  life  of  one  hundred  and  thirty 
years  extended  over  the  greater  part  of  Joash's  reign, 
during  most  of  which  he  had  Jehoiada  to  direct  him 
and  keep  him  right,  and  all  this  tragedy  comes  at  the 
fag  end  of  it. 

So  he  went  on  apparently  all  right,  like  a  tree  that 
has  become  quite  hollow,  till  during  some  storm  it  is 
blown  down  and  falls  with  a  crash,  and  it  is  seen  that 
for  years  it  has  been  only  the  skin  of  a  tree,  bark  out- 
side, and  inside — emptiness. 

II.  We  come  now  to  the  second  stage  in  the  later 
life  of  Joash :  His  resistance  to  the  divine  plead- 
ing. 

•And  they  left  the  house  of  the  Lord  God  of  their 
fathers,  and  served  groves  and  idols,  and  wrath  came 
upon  Judah  and  Jerusalem  for  their  trespass,  yet  He 
sent  prophets  to  them  to  bring  them  again  unto  the 
Lord.'  He  sent  with  endless  pity,  with  long-suffering 
patience.  He  would  not  be  put  away,  and  as  they 
increased  the  distance  between  Him  and  them,  He 
increased  His  energies  to  bring  them  back.  But  they 
lifted  themselves  up,  Joash  and  his  princes,  and  with 
that  strange,  awful  power  of  resisting  the  attraction 
of  the  divine  pleading,  and  hardening  their  hearts 
against  the  divine  patience — 'they  would  not.'     And 


vs.  2,  17]  JOASH  189 

then  comes  the  affecting  episode  of  the  death  of  the 
high  priest  Zechariah,  who  had  succeeded  to  his  father's 
place  and  likewise  to  his  heroism,  and  who,  with  the 
Spirit  of  God  upon  him,  stands  up  and  pointing  out  his 
wickedness,  rebukes  the  fallen  monarch  for  his  apos- 
tasy. Joash,  doubtless  stung  to  the  quick  by  Zech- 
ariah's  just  reproaches,  allowed  the  truculent  princes 
to  slay  him  in  the  court  of  the  Temple,  even  between 
the  very  shrine  and  the  altar. 

What  a  picture  we  have  here  of  the  divine  love 
which  follows  every  wanderer  with  its  pleadings  and 
beseechings  !  It  came  to  this  man  through  the  lips  of 
a  prophet.  It  comes  to  us  all  in  daily  blessings,  some- 
times in  messages,  like  these  poor  words  of  mine.  God 
will  not  let  us  ruin  ourselves  without  pleading  with  us 
and  wooing  us  to  love  Him  and  cling  to  Him.  '  He  rises 
up  early '  and  daily  sends  us  His  messages,  sometimes 
rebukes  and  voices  in  our  conscience,  sometimes  sun- 
set glows  and  starry  heavens  lifting  our  thoughts 
above  this  low  earth,  sometimes  sorrows  that  are 
meant  to  '  drive  us  to  His  breast,'  and  above  all,  the 
*  Gospel  of  our  salvation '  in  Christ,  ever,  in  such  a  land 
as  ours,  sounding  in  our  ears. 

Still  further,  we  see  in  Joash  what  a  strange,  awful 
strength  of  obstinate  resistance,  a  character  weak  as 
regards  its  resistance  to  man,  can  put  forth  against 
God.  He  never  attempted  to  say  '  No  ! '  to  the  princes  of 
Judah,  but  he  could  say  it  again  and  again  to  his  Father 
in  heaven.  He  could  not  but  yield  to  the  temptations 
which  were  level  with  his  eyes,  and  this  poor  creature, 
easily  swayed  by  human  allurements  and  influences, 
could  gather  himself  together,  standing,  as  it  were,  on 
his  little  pin  point,  and  say  to  God,  'Thou  dost  call 
and  I  refuse.'     What  a  paradox,  and  yet  repetitions 


190  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxiv. 

of  it  are  sitting  in  these  pews,  only  half  aware  that  it 
is  about  them  that  I  am  speaking ! 

The  ever-deepening  evil  which  began  with  forsaking 
the  house  of  the  Lord  and  serving  Ashtaroth,  ends  with 
Joash  steeping  his  hands  in  blood.  The  murder  of  Zecha- 
riah  was  beyond  the  common  count  of  crimes,  for  it 
was  a  foul  desecration  of  the  Temple,  an  act  of  the 
blackest  ingratitude  to  the  man  who  had  saved  his 
infant  life,  and  put  him  on  the  throne,  an  outrage  on 
the  claims  of  family  connections,  for  Joash  and  Zecha- 
riah  were  probably  blood  relations.  My  brother !  once 
get  your  foot  upon  that  steep  incline  of  evil,  once 
forsake  the  path  of  what  is  good  and  right  and  true, 
and  you  are  very  much  like  a  climber  who  misses  his 
footing  up  among  the  mountain  peaks,  and  down  he 
slides  till  he  reaches  the  edge  of  the  precipice  and 
then  in  an  instant  is  dashed  to  pieces  at  the  bottom. 
Once  put  your  foot  on  that  slippery  slope  and  you  know 
not  where  you  may  fall  to. 

III.  Last  comes  the  final  scene  :  The  retribution. 

We  have  that  picture  of  Zechariah,  solemnly  lift- 
ing up  his  eyes  to  heaven  and  committing  his  cause 
to  God.  '  The  Lord  look  upon  it  and  require  it,'  says 
the  martyr  priest  in  the  spirit  of  the  old  Law.  The 
dying  appeal  was  soon  answered  in  the  invasion  of  the 
Syrian  army,  a  comparatively  small  company,  into 
whose  hands  the  Lord  delivered  a  very  great  host  of 
the  Israelites.  The  defeat  was  complete,  and  possibly 
Joash's  '  great  diseases,'  of  which  the  narrative  speaks, 
refer  to  wounds  received  in  the  fight.  The  end  soon 
comes,  for  two  of  his  servants,  neither  of  them 
Hebrews,  one  being  the  son  of  an  Ammonitess  and 
the  other  the  son  of  a  Moabitess,  who  were  truer  to  his 
religion  than  he  had  been,  and  resolved  to   revenge 


vs.  2, 17]  GLAD  GIVERS  191 

Zechariah's  death,  entered  the  room  of  the  wounded 
king  in  the  fortress  whither  he  had  retired  to  hide 
himself  after  the  fight,  and  'slew  him  on  his  bed.' 
Imagine  the  grim  scene — the  two  men  stealing  in,  the 
sick  man  there  on  the  bed  helpless,  the  short  ghastly 
struggle  and  the  swift  end.  What  an  end  for  a  life 
with  such  a  beginning  ! 

Now  I  am  not  going  to  dwell  on  this  retribution, 
inflicted  on  Joash,  or  on  that  which  comes  to  us  if  we 
are  like  him,  through  a  loud-voiced  conscience,  and 
a  memory  which,  though  it  may  be  dulled  and  hushed 
to  sleep  at  present,  is  sure  to  wake  some  day  here 
or  yonder.  But  I  beseech  you  to  ask  yourselves  what 
your  outlook  is.  '  Be  not  deceived,  God  is  not  mocked ; 
for  whatsoever  a  man  soweth  that  shall  he  also  reap.' 
Is  that  all?  Zechariah  said,  'The  Lord  look  upon  it 
and  require  it.'  The  great  doctrine  of  retribution  is 
true  for  ever.  Yes  ;  but  our  Zechariah  lifts  up  his  eyes 
to  heaven  and  he  says,  '  Father  !  forgive  them,  for  they 
know  not  what  they  do.'  And  so,  dear  brother !  you 
and  I,  trusting  to  that  dear  Lord,  may  have  all  our 
apostasy  forgiven,  and  be  brought  near  by  the  blood  of 
Christ.  Let  us  say  with  the  Apostle  Peter,  *  Lord, 
to  whom  shall  we  go  but  to  Thee?  Thou  hast  the 
words  of  eternal  life.' 


GLAD  GIVERS  AND  FAITHFUL  WORKERS 

'  And  it  came  to  pass  after  this,  that  Joash  was  minded  to  repair  the  house  of 
the  Lord.  5.  And  he  gathered  together  the  priests  and  the  Levites,  and  said  to 
them,  go  out  unto  the  cities  of  Judah,  and  gather  of  all  Israel  money  to  repair  the 
house  of  your  God  from  year  to  year,  and  see  that  ye  hasten  the  matter.  Howbeit 
the  Levites  hastened  it  not.  6.  And  the  king  called  for  Jehoiada  the  chief,  and  said 
unto  him.  Why  hast  thou  not  required  of  the  Levites  to  bring  in  out  of  Judah  and 
out  of  Jerusalem  the  collection,  according  to  the  commandment  of  Moses  the  ser- 
vant of  the  Lord,  and  of  the  congregation  of  Israel,  for  the  tabernaole  of  vyitness  ? 
7.  For  the  sons  of  Athaliah,  that  wicked  woman,  had  broken  up  the  house.of  God ; 


192  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxiv. 

and  also  all  the  dedicated  things  of  the  house  of  the  Lord  did  they  bestow  upon 
Baalim.  8.  And  at  the  king's  commandment  they  made  a  chest,  and  set  it  without 
at  the  gate  of  the  house  of  the  Lord.  9.  And  they  made  a  proclamation  through 
Judah  and  Jerusalem,  to  bring  in  to  the  Lord  the  collection  that  Moses  the  ser- 
vant of  God  laid  upon  Israel  in  the  wilderness.  10.  And  all  the  princes  and  all  the 
people  rejoiced,  and  brought  in,  and  cast  into  the  chest,  until  they  had  made  an  end. 
IL  Now  it  came  to  pass,  that  at  what  time  the  chest  was  brought  unto  the  king's 
oflBce  by  the  hand  of  the  Levites,  and  when  they  saw  that  there  was  much  money, 
the  king's  scribe  and  the  high  priest's  officer  came  and  emptied  the  chest,  and  took 
it,  and  carried  it  to  his  place  again.  Thus  they  did  day  by  day,  and  gathered 
money  in  abundance.  12.  And  the  king  and  Jehoiada  gave  it  to  such  as  did  the  work 
of  the  service  of  the  house  of  the  Lord,  and  hired  masons  and  carpenters  to  repair 
the  house  of  the  Lord,  and  also  such  as  wrought  iron  and  brass  to  mend  the  house 
of  the  Lord.  13.  So  the  workmen  wrought,  and  the  work  was  perfected  by  them, 
and  they  set  the  house  of  God  in  his  state,  and  strengthened  it.  14.  And  when  they 
had  finished  it,  they  brought  the  rest  of  the  money  before  the  king  and  Jehoiada, 
whereof  were  made  vessels  for  the  house  of  the  Lord,  even  vessels  to  minister, 
and  to  offer  withal,  and  spoons,  and  vessels  of  gold  and  silver.  And  they  offered 
burnt  offerings  in  the  house  of  the  Lord  continually  all  the  days  of  Jehoiada.'— 
2  Chbon.  xxiv.  4-14, 

JOASH  owed  his  life  and  his  throne  to  the  high-priest 
Jehoiada,  who  was  his  uncle  by  marriage  with  the 
sister  of  Ahaziah,  his  father.  Rescued  by  his  aunt  when 
an  infant,  he  '  was  with  them,  hid  in  the  house  of  God 
six  years,'  and,  when  seven  years  old,  was  made  king  by 
Jehoiada's  daring  revolt  against  '  that  wicked  woman, 
Athaliah.  Jehoiada's  influence  was  naturally  para- 
mount, and  was  as  wholesome  as  strong.  It  is  remark- 
able, however,  that  this  impulse  to  repair  the  Temple 
seems  to  have  originated  with  the  king,  not  with  the 
high-priest,  though  no  doubt  the  spirit  which  conceived 
the  impulse  was  largely  moulded  by  the  latter.  The 
king,  whose  childhood  had  found  a  safe  asylum  in  the 
Temple,  might  well  desire  its  restoration,  even  apart 
from  considerations  of  religion. 

I.  The  story  first  brings  into  strong  contrast  the 
eager  king,  full  of  his  purpose,  and  the  sluggards  to 
whom  he  had  to  entrust  its  execution.  We  can  only 
guess  the  point  in  his  reign  at  which  Joash  summoned 
the  priests  to  his  help.  It  was  after  his  marriage 
(ver.  3),  and  considerably  before  the  twenty-third 
year  of  his  reign,    at  which   time  his   patience  was 


vs.  4-14]  GLAD  GIVERS  198 

exhausted  (2  Kings  xii.  6).  Some  years  were  apparently- 
wasted  by  the  dawdling  sluggishness  of  the  priests, 
who,  for  some  reason  or  other,  did  not  go  into  the 
proposed  restoration  heartily.  Joash  seems  to  have 
suspected  that  they  would  push  the  work  languidly; 
for  there  is  a  distinct  tinge  of  suspicion  and  'whipping 
up'  in  his  injunction  to  *  hasten  the  matter.' 

The  first  intention  was  to  raise  the  funds  by  sending 
out  the  priests  and  Levites  to  collect  locally  the 
statutory  half-shekel,  as  well  as  other  contributions 
mentioned  in  2  Kings  xii.  There  we  learn  that  each 
collector  was  to  go  to  '  his  acquaintance.'  The  sub- 
scription was  to  be  spread  over  some  years,  and  for  a 
while  Joash  waited  quietly ;  but  in  the  twenty-third 
year  of  his  reign  (see  2  Kings),  he  could  stand  delay  no 
longer.  Whether  the  priests  had  been  diligent  in 
collecting  or  not,  they  had  done  nothing  towards 
repairing.  Perhaps  they  found  it  difficult  to  determine 
the  proportion  of  the  money  which  was  needed  for  the 
ordinary  expenses  of  worship,  and  for  the  restoration 
fund  ;  and,  as  the  former  included  their  own  dues  and 
support,  they  would  not  be  likely  to  set  it  down  too 
low.  Perhaps  they  did  not  much  care  to  carry  out  a 
scheme  which  had  not  begun  with  themselves ;  for 
priests  are  not  usually  eager  to  promote  ecclesiastical 
renovations  suggested  by  laymen.  Perhaps  they  did 
not  care  as  much  about  the  renovation  as  the  king  did, 
and  smiled  at  his  earnestness  as  a  pious  imagining. 
Possibly  there  was  even  deliberate  embezzlement.  But, 
at  any  rate,  there  was  half-heartedness,  and  that  always 
means  languid  work,  and  that  always  means  failure. 
The  earnest  people  are  fretted  continually  by  the 
indifferent.  Every  good  scheme  is  held  back,  like  a 
ship  with  a  foul  bottom,  by  the  barnacles  that  stick 

N 


194  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxiv. 

to  its  keel  and  bring  down  its  speed.  Professional 
ecclesiastics  in  all  ages  have  succumbed  to  the  tempta- 
tion of  thinking  that  *  church  property '  was  first  of  all 
to  be  used  for  their  advantage,  and,  secondarily,  for 
behoof  of  God's  house.  Eager  zeal  has  in  all  ages  to  be 
yoked  to  torpid  indifference,  and  to  drag  its  unwilling 
companion  along,  like  two  dogs  in  a  leash.  Direct 
opposition  is  easier  to  bear  than  apparent  assistance 
which  tries  to  slow  down  to  half  speed. 

Joash's  command  is  imperative  on  all  workers  for 
God.  'See  that  ye  hasten  the  matter,'  for  time  is 
short,  the  fruit  great,  the  evening  shadows  lengthening, 
the  interests  at  stake  all-important,  and  the  Lord  of 
the  harvest  will  soon  come  to  count  our  sheaves. 
Whatever  work  may  be  done  without  haste,  God's 
cannot  be,  and  a  heavy  curse  falls  on  him  who  •  does 
the  work  of  the  Lord  negligently.'  The  runner  who 
keeps  well  on  this  side  of  fatigue,  panting,  and  sweat, 
has  little  chance  of  the  crown. 

II.  The  next  step  is  the  withdrawal  of  the  work  from 
the  sluggards.  They  are  relieved  both  of  the  collection 
and  expenditure  of  the  money.  Apparently  (2  Kings  xii. 
9)  the  contributors  handed  their  donations  to  the  door- 
keepers, who  put  them  into  the  chest  with  *  a  hole  in 
the  lid  of  it,'  in  the  sight  of  the  donors.  The  arrange- 
ment was  not  flattering  to  the  hierarchy,  but  as 
appearances  were  saved  by  Jehoiada's  making  the 
chest  (see  2  Kings)  they  had  to  submit  with  the  best 
grace  they  could.  In  our  own  times,  we  have  seen 
the  same  thing  often  enough.  When  clergy  have 
maladministered  church  property,  Parliament  has 
appointed  ecclesiastical  commissioners.  Common  sense 
prescribes  taking  slovenly  work  out  of  lazy  hands. 
The  more   rigidly  that  principle  is  carried  out  in  the 


VS.4-U]  GLAD  GIVERS  195 

church  and  the  nation,  at  whatever  cost  of  individual 
humiliation,  the  better  for  both.  '  The  tools  to  the 
hands  that  can  use  them '  is  the  ideal  for  both.  God's 
dealings  follow  the  same  law,  both  in  withdrawing 
opportunities  of  service  and  in  giving  more  of  such. 
The  reward  for  work  is  more  work,  and  the  punishment 
for  sloth  is  compulsory  idleness. 

III.  We  are  next  shown  the  glad  givers.  Probably 
suspicion  had  been  excited  in  others  than  the  king, 
and  had  checked  liberality.  People  will  not  give  freely 
if  the  expenses  of  the  collectors'  support  swallow  up 
the  funds.  It  is  hard  to  get  help  for  a  vague  scheme, 
which  unites  two  objects,  and  only  gives  the  balance, 
after  the  first  is  provided  for,  to  the  second  and  more 
important.  So  the  whole  nation,  both  high  and  low, 
was  glad  when  the  new  arrangement  brought  a  clear 
issue,  and  secured  the  right  appropriation  of  the 
money. 

No  doubt,  too,  Joash's  earnestness  kindled  others. 
Chronicles  speaks  only  of  the  *  tax,' — that  is,  the  half- 
shekel, — but  Kings  mentions  two  other  sources,  one  of 
which  is  purely  spontaneous  gifts,  and  these  are  implied 
by  the  tone  of  verse  10,  which  lays  stress  on  the  glad- 
ness of  the  offerers.  That  is  the  incense  which  adds 
fragrance  to  our  gifts.  Grudging  service  is  no  service, 
and  money  given  for  ever  so  religious  a  purpose, 
without  gladness  because  of  the  opportunity  of  giving, 
is  not,  in  the  deepest  sense,  given  at  all.  Love  is  a 
longing  to  give  to  the  beloved,  and  whoever  truly  loves 
God  will  know  no  keener  delight  than  surrender  for 
His  dear  sake.  Pecuniary  contributions  for  religious 
purposes  afford  a  rough  but  real  test  of  the  depth  of  a 
man's  religion ;  but  it  is  one  available  only  for  himself, 
since  the  motive,  and  not  the  amount,  is  the  determin- 


196  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxiv. 

ing  element.  We  all  need  to  bring  our  hearts  more 
under  the  influence  of  God's  love  to  us,  that  our  love 
to  Him  may  be  increased,  and  then  to  administer 
possessions,  under  the  impulse  to  glad  giving  which 
enkindled  love  will  always  excite.  Super-heated  steam 
has  most  expansive  power  and  driving  force.  These 
glad  givers  may  remind  us  not  only  of  the  one  condi- 
tion of  acceptable  giving,  but  also  of  the  need  for  clear 
and  worthy  objects,  and  of  obvious  disinterestedness 
in  those  who  seek  for  money  to  help  good  causes.  The 
smallest  opening  for  suspicion  that  some  of  it  sticks 
to  the  collector's  fingers  is  fatal,  as  it  should  be. 

IV.  Joash  was  evidently  a  business-like  king.  We 
next  hear  of  the  precautions  he  took  to  secure  the 
public  confidence.  There  was  a  rough  but  suJBBcient 
audit.  When  the  chest  grew  heavy,  and  sounded  full, 
two  officials  received  it  at  the  'king's  office.'  The 
Levites  carried  it  there,  but  were  not  allowed  to  handle 
the  contents.  The  two  tellers  represented  the  king  and 
the  chief  priest,  and  thus  both  the  civil  and  religious 
authorities  were  satisfied,  and  each  officer  was  a  check 
on  the  other.  Public  money  should  never  be  handled 
by  a  man  alone ;  and  an  honest  one  will  always  wish, 
like  Paul,  to  have  a  brother  associated  with  him,  that 
no  man  may  blame  him  in  his  administration  of  it.  If 
we  take  '  day  by  day '  literally,  we  have  a  measure  of 
the  liberality  which  filled  the  chest  daily;  but,  more 
probably,  the  expression  simply  means  '  from  time  to 
time,'  when  occasion  required. 

V.  The  application  of  the  money  is  next  narrated. 
In  this  Jehoiada  is  associated  with  Joash,  the  king 
probably  desiring  to  smooth  over  any  slight  that  might 
seem  to  have  been  put  on  the  priests,  as  well  as  being 
still  under  the  influence  of  the  high -priest's    strong 


vs.  4-14]  GLAD  GIVERS  197 

character  and  early  kindness.  Together  they  passed 
over  the  results  of  the  contribution  to  the  contractors, 
who  in  turn  paid  it  in  wages  to  the  workmen  who 
repaired  the  fabric,  such  as  masons  and  carpenters, 
and  to  other  artisans  who  restored  other  details,  such 
as  brass  and  iron  work.  The  Second  Book  of  Kings 
tells  us  that  Joash's  cautious  provision  against  mis- 
appropriation seems  to  have  deserted  him  at  this  stage ; 
for  no  account  was  required  of  the  workmen, '  for  they 
dealt  faithfully.'  That  is  an  indication  of  their  good- 
will. The  humble  craftsmen  were  more  reliable  than 
the  priests.  They  had,  no  doubt,  given  their  half-shekel 
like  others,  and  now  they  gladly  gave  their  work,  and 
were  not  hirelings,  though  they  were  hired.  We,  too, 
have  to  give  our  money  and  our  labour;  and  if  our 
hearts  are  right,  we  shall  give  both  with  the  same 
conscientious  cheerfulness,  and,  if  we  are  paid  in  coin 
for  our  work,  will  still  do  it  for  higher  reasons  and 
looking  for  other  wages.  These  Temple  workmen  may 
stand  as  patterns  of  what  religion  should  do  for  those 
of  us  whose  lot  is  to  work  with  our  hands, — and  not  less 
for  others  who  have  to  toil  with  their  brains,  and  the 
sweat  of  whose  brow  is  inside  their  heads.  A  Christian 
workman  should  be  a  '  faithful '  workman,  and  will  be 
so  if  he  is  full  of  faith. 

Joash  knew  when  to  trust  and  when  to  keep  a  sharp 
eye  on  men.  His  experience  with  the  priests  had  not 
soured  him  into  suspecting  everybody.  Cynical  disbelief 
in  honesty  is  more  foolish  and  hurtful  to  ourselves  than 
even  excessive  trust.  These  workmen  wrought  all 
the  more  faithfully  because  they  knew  that  they  were 
trusted,  and  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  men  will  try  to  live 
up  to  our  valuation  of  them.  The  Rugby  boys  used  to 
say, '  It 's  a  shame  to  tell  Arnold  a  lie,  he  always  believes 


198  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxiv. 

us.'  Better  to  be  cheated  once  than  to  treat  the  nine 
as  rogues, — better  for  them  and  better  for  ourselves. 

'Faithful'  work  is  prosperous  work.  As  verse  13 
picturesquely  says,  'Healing  went  up  upon  the  work'; 
and  the  Temple  was  restored  to  its  old  fair  proportions, 
and  stood  strong  as  before.  Where  there  is  conscien- 
tious effort,  God's  blessing  is  not  withheld.  Labour  '  in 
the  Lord'  can  never  be  empty  labour,  though  even  a 
prophet  may  often  be  tempted,  in  a  moment  of  weary 
despondency,  to  complain,  'I  have  laboured  in  vain.' 
We  may  not  see  the  results,  nor  have  the  workmen's 
joy  of  beholding  the  building  rise,  course  by  course, 
under  our  hands,  but  we  shall  see  it  one  day,  though 
now  we  have  to  work  in  the  dark. 

There  seems  a  discrepancy  between  the  statements 
in  Chronicles  and  Kings  as  to  the  source  from  which 
the  cost  of  the  sacrificial  vessels  was  defrayed,  since, 
according  to  the  former,  it  was  from  the  restoration 
fund,  which  is  expressly  denied  by  the  latter.  The  ex- 
planation seems  reasonable,  that,  as  Chronicles  says, 
it  was  from  the  balance  remaining  after  all  restoration 
charges  were  liquidated,  that  this  other  expenditure 
was  met.  First,  the  whole  amount  was  sacredly 
devoted  to  the  purpose  for  which  it  had  been  asked, 
and  then,  when  the  honest  overseers  repaid  the  un- 
counted surplus,  which  they  might  have  kept,  it  was 
found  sufficient  to  meet  the  extra  cost  of  furnishing. 
God  blesses  the  faithful  steward  of  his  gifts  with  more 
than  enough  for  the  immediate  service,  and  the  best 
use  of  the  surplus  is  to  do  more  with  it  for  Him.  '  God 
is  able  to  make  all  grace  abound  unto  you;  that  ye, 
having  always  all  sufficiency  in  every  thing,  may 
abound  unto  every  good  work,  ,  ,  .  being  enriched  in 
every  thing  unto  all  liberality.' 


PRUDENCE  AND  FAITH 

*And  Amaziah  said  to  the  man  of  God,  But  what  shall  we  do  for  the  hundred 
talents  which  I  have  given  to  the  army  of  Israel?  And  the  man  of  God  answered. 
The  Lord  is  able  to  give  thee  much  more  than  this.'— 2  Chron.  xxv.  9, 

The  character  of  this  Amaziah,  one  of  the  Kings  of 
Judah,  is  summed  up  by  the  chronicler  in  a  damning 
epigram :  '  He  did  that  Avhich  was  right  in  the  sight 
of  the  Lord,  but  not  with  a  perfect  heart.'  He  was 
one  of  your  half-and-half  people,  or,  as  Hosea  says, 
'  a  cake  not  turned,'  burnt  black  on  one  side,  and  raw 
dough  on  the  other.  So  when  he  came  to  the  throne, 
in  the  buoyancy  and  insolence  of  youth,  he  immediately 
began  to  aim  at  conquests  in  the  neighbouring  little 
states ;  and  in  order  to  strengthen  himself  he  hired  '  a 
hundred  thousand  mighty  men  of  valour'  out  of  Israel 
for  a  hundred  talents  of  silver.  To  seek  help  from 
Israel  was,  in  a  prophet's  eyes,  equivalent  to  flinging 
off  help  from  God.  So  a  man  of  God  comes  to  him,  and 
warns  him  that  the  Lord  is  not  with  Israel,  and  that 
the  alliance  is  not  permissible  for  him.  But,  instead  of 
yielding  to  the  prophet's  advice,  he  parries  it  with  this 
misplaced  question,  'But  what  shall  we  do  for  the 
hundred  talents  that  I  have  given  to  the  army  of 
Israel  ? '  He  does  not  care  to  ask  whether  the  counsel 
that  he  is  receiving  is  right  or  wrong,  or  whether  what 
he  is  inljending  to  do  is  in  conformity  with,  or  in 
opposition  to,  the  will  of  God,  but,  passing  by  all  such 
questions,  at  once  he  fastens  on  the  lower  consideration 
of  expediency — 'What  is  to  become  of  me  if  I  dj 
as  this  prophet  would  have  me  do?  What  a  heavy 
loss  one  hundred  talents  will  be!  It  is  too  much 
to  sacrifice  to  a  scruple  of  that  sort.  It  cannot  be 
done.' 

199 


200  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxv. 

A  great  many  of  us  may  take,  a  lesson  from  this 
man.  There  are  two  things  in  my  text — a  misplaced 
question  and  a  triumphant  answer:  'What  shall  we 
do  for  the  hundred  talents  ? '  '  The  Lord  is  able  to  give 
the©  much  more  than  this.'  Now,  remarkably  enough, 
both  question  and  answer  may  be  either  very  right  or 
very  wrong,  according  as  they  are  taken,  and  I  purpose 
to  look  at  those  two  aspects  of  each. 

I.  A  misplaced  question. 

I  call  it  misplaced  because  Amaziah's  fault,  and  the 
fault  of  a  great  many  of  us,  was,  not  that  he  took 
consequences  into  account,  but  that  he  took  them  into 
account  at  the  wrong  time.  The  question  should  have 
come  second,  not  first.  Amaziah's  first  business  should 
have  been  to  see  clearly  what  was  duty ;  and  then,  and 
not  till  then,  the  next  business  should  have  been  to 
consider  consequences. 

Consider  the  right  place  and  way  of  putting  this 
question.  Many  of  us  make  shipwreck  of  our  lives 
because,  with  our  eyes  shut,  we  determine  upon  some 
grand  design,  and  fall  under  the  condemnation  of  the 
man  that '  began  to  build,  and  was  not  able  to  finish.' 
He  drew  a  great  plan  of  a  stately  mansion ;  and  then 
found  that  he  had  neither  money  in  the  bank,  nor 
stones  in  his  quarry,  to  finish  it,  and  so  it  stood — a  ruin. 
All  through  our  Lord's  life  He  was  engaged  rather  in 
repressing  volunteers  than  in  soliciting  recruits,  and 
He  from  time  to  time  poured  a  douche  of  cold  water 
upon  swiftly  effervescing  desires  to  go  after  Him. 
When  the  multitudes  followed  Him,  He  turned  and 
said  to  them,  'If  you  are  counting  on  being  My 
disciples,  understand  what  it  means :  take  up  the  cross 
and  follow  Me.'  When  an  enthusiastic  man,  who  had 
not  looked  consequences  in  the  face,  came  rushing  to 


V.9]  PRUDENCE  AND  FAITH  201 

Him  and  said :  '  Lord,  I  will  follow  Thee  whithersoever 
Thou  goest,'  His  answer  to  him  was  another  pull  at  the 
string  of  the  shower  bath :  '  The  Son  of  Man  hath  not 
where  to  lay  His  head.'  When  the  two  di§ciples  came 
to  Him  and  said:  'Grant  that  we  may  sit,  the  one 
on  Thy  right  hand  and  the  other  on  Thy  left,  when 
Thou  comest  into  Thy  kingdom,'  He  said :  '  Are  ye  able 
to  drink  of  the  cup  that  I  drink  of,  and  to  be  baptized 
with  the  baptism  that  I  am  baptized  withal?'  Look 
the  facts  in  the  face  before  you  make  your  election. 
Jesus  Christ  will  enlist  no  man  under  false  pretences. 
Recruiting-sergeants  tell  country  bumpkins  or  city 
louts  wonderful  stories  of  what  they  will  get  if  they 
take  the  shilling  and  put  on  the  king's  uniform;  but 
Jesus  Christ  does  not  recruit  His  soldiers  in  that 
fashion.  If  a  man  does  not  open  his  eyes  to  a  clear 
vision  of  the  consequences  of  his  actions,  his  life  will 
go  to  water  in  all  directions.  And  there  is  no  region  in 
which  such  clear  insight  into  what  is  going  to  follow 
upon  my  determinations  and  the  part  that  I  take  is 
more  necessary  than  in  the  Christian  life.  It  is  just 
because  in  certain  types  of  character,  'the  word  is 
received  with  joy,'  and  springs  up  immediately,  that 
when  *  the  sun  is  risen  with  a  burning  heat ' — that  is, 
as  Christ  explains,  when  the  pinch  of  difficulty  comes 
— 'immediately  they  fall  away,'  and  ail  their  grand 
resolutions  go  to  nothing.  'Lightly  come,  lightly  go.' 
Let  us  face  the  facts  of  what  is  involved,  in  the  way 
of  sacrifice,  surrender,  loss,  if  we  determine  to  be  on 
Christ's  side ;  and  then,  when  the  anticipated  difficulties 
come,  we  shall  neither  be  perplexed  nor  swept  away, 
but  be  able  quietly  to  say,  '  I  discounted  it  all  before- 
hand ;  I  knew  it  was  coming.'  The  storm  catches  the 
ship  that  is  carrying  full  sail  and  expecting  nothing 


202   SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxv. 

but  light  and  favourable  breezes;  while  the  captain 
that  looked  into  the  weather  quarter  and  saw  the 
black  cloud  beginning  to  rise  above  the  horizon,  and 
took  in  his  sails  and  made  his  vessel  snug  and  tight, 
rides  out  the  gale.  It  is  wisdom  that  becomes  a  man, 
to  ask  this  question,  if  first  of  all  he  has  asked,  •  What 
ought  I  to  do  ? ' 

But  we  have  here  an  instance  of  a  right  thing  in 
a  wrong  place.  It  was  right  to  ask  the  question,  but 
wrong  to  ask  it  at  that  point.  Amaziah  thought 
nothing  about  duty.  There  sprang  up  in  his  mind  at 
once  the  cowardly  and  ignoble  thought:  'I  cannot 
afford  to  do  what  is  right,  because  it  will  cost  me  a 
hundred  talents,'  and  that  was  his  sin.  Consequences 
may  be,  must  be,  faced  in  anticipation,  or  a  man  is 
a  fool.  He  that  allows  the  clearest  perception  of 
disagreeable  consequences,  such  as  pain,  loss  of  ease, 
loss  of  reputation,  loss  of  money,  or  any  other  harmful 
results  that  may  follow,  to  frighten  him  out  of  the 
road  that  he  knows  he  ought  to  take,  is  a  worse  fool 
still,  for  he  is  a  coward  and  recreant  to  his  own 
conscience. 

We  have  to  look  into  our  own  hearts  for  the  most 
solemn  and  pressing  illustrations  of  this  sin,  and  I 
daresay  we  all  of  us  can  remember  clear  duties  that 
w^e  have  neglected,  because  we  did  not  like  to  face 
what  would  come  from  them.  A  man  in  business  will 
say,  '  I  cannot  afford  to  have  such  a  high  standard  of 
morality;  I  shall  be  hopelessly  run  over  in  the  race 
with  my  competitors  if  I  do  not  do  as  they  do,'  or 
he  will  say,  *  I  durst  not  take  a  stand  as  an  out-and-out 
Christian ;  I  shall  lose  connections,  I  shall  lose  position. 
People  will  laugh  at  me.  What  am  I  to  do  for  the 
hundred  talents  ? ' 


V.9]  PRUDENCE  AND  FAITH  203 

But  we  can  find  the  same  thing  in  Churches.  I  do 
not  mean  to  enter  upon  controversial  questions,  but 
as  an  instance,  I  may  remind  you  that  one  great  argu- 
mient  that  our  friends  who  believe  in  an  Established 
Church  are  always  bringing  forward,  is  just  a  modern 
form  of  Amaziah's  question,  'What  shall  we  do  for 
the  hundred  talents  ?  How  could  the  Church  be  main- 
tained, how  could  its  ministrations  be  continued,  if 
its  State-provided  revenues  were  withdrawn  or  given 
up  ? '  But  it  is  not  only  Anglicans  who  put  the  con- 
sideration of  the  consequences  of  obedience  in  the 
wrong  place.  All  the  Churches  are  but  too  apt  to  let 
their  eyes  wander  from  reading  the  plain  precepts 
of  the  New  Testament  to  looking  for  the  damaging 
results  to  be  expected  from  keeping  them.  Do  we 
not  sometimes  hear,  as  answer  to  would-be  reformers, 
'We  cannot  afford  to  give  up  this,  that,  or  the  other 
practice  ?  We  should  not  be  able  to  hold  our  ground, 
unless  we  did  so-and-so  and  so-and-so.' 

But  not  only  individuals  or  Churches  are  guilty  in 
this  matter.  The  nation  takes  a  leaf  out  of  Amaziah's 
book,  and  puts  aside  many  plain  duties,  for  no  better 
reason  than  that  it  would  cost  too  much  to  do  them. 
'What  is  the  use  of  talking  about  suppressing  the 
liquor  traffic  or  housing  the  poor  ?  Think  of  the  cost.' 
The  'hundred  talents'  block  the  way  and  bribe  the 
national  conscience.  For  instance,  the  opium  traffic; 
how  is  it  defended?  Some  attempt  is  made  to  prove 
either  that  we  did  not  force  it  upon  China,  or  that  the 
talk  about  the  evils  of  opium  is  missionary  fanaticism, 
but  the  sheet-anchor  is:  'How  are  we  ever  to  raise 
the  Indian  revenue  if  we  give  up  the  traffic?'  That 
is  exactly  Amaziah  over  again,  come  from  the  dead, 
and  resurrected  in  a  very  ugly  shape. 


204   SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxv. 

So  national  policy  and  Church  action,  and — what  is 
of  far  more  importance  to  you  and  me  than  either  the 
one  or  the  other, — our  own  personal  relation  to  Jesus 
Christ  and  discipleship  to  Him,  have  been  hampered, 
and  are  being  hampered,  just  by  that  persistent  and 
unworthy  attitude  of  looking  at  the  consequences  of 
doing  plain  duties,  and  permitting  ourselves  to  be 
frightened  from  the  duties  because  the  consequences 
are  unwelcome  to  us. 

Prudence  is  all  right,  but  when  prudence  takee 
command  and  presumes  to  guide  conscience,  then  it 
is  all  wrong.  In  some  courts  of  law  and  in  certain 
cases,  the  judge  has  an  assessor  sitting  beside  him,  an 
expert  about  some  of  the  questions  that  are  involved. 
Conscience  is  the  judge,  prudence  the  assessor.  But 
if  the  assessor  ventures  up  on  the  judgment-seat,  and 
begins  to  give  the  decisions  which  it  is  not  his  business 
to  give — for  his  only  business  is  to  give  advice — then 
the  only  thing  to  do  with  the  assessor  is  to  tell  him 
to  hold  his  tongue  and  let  the  judge  speak.  It  is  no 
answer  to  the  prophet's  prohibition  to  say,  'But  what 
shall  I  do  for  the  hundred  talents?'  A  yet  better 
answer  than  the  prophet  gave  Amaziah  would  have 
been,  '  Never  mind  about  the  hundred  talents ;  do  what 
is  right,  and  leave  the  rest  to  God.'  However,  that 
was  not  the  answer. 

II.  The  triumphant  answer. 

'The  Lord  is  able  to  give  thee  much  more  ^than 
this.'  Now,  this  answer,  like  the  question,  may  be 
right  or  wrong,  according  as  it  is  taken.  In  what 
aspect  is  it  wrong?  In  what  sense  is  it  not  true? 
I  suppose  this  prophet  did  not  mean  more  than  the 
undeniable  truth  that  God  was  able  to  give  Amaziah 
more  than  a  hundred  talents.    He  was  not  thinking 


V.9]  PRUDENCE  AND  FAITH  205 

of  the  loftier  meanings  which  we  necessarily,  as 
Christian  people,  at  a  later  stage  of  Revelation,  and 
with  a  clearer  vision  of  many  things,  attach  to  the 
words.  He  simply  meant,  'You  will  very  likely  get 
more  than  the  hundred  talents  that  you  have  lost, 
if  you  do  what  pleases  God.'  He  was  speaking  from 
the  point  of  view  of  the  Old  Testament ;  though  even 
in  the  Old  Testament  we  have  instances  enough  that 
prosperity  did  not  always  attend  righteousness.  In 
the  Old  Testament  we  find  the  Book  of  Job,  and  the 
Book  of  Ecclesiastes,  and  many  a  psalm,  all  of  which 
were  written  in  order  to  grapple  with  the  question, 
'  How  is  it  that  God  does  not  give  the  good  man  more 
than  the  hundred  talents  that  he  has  lost  for  the  sake 
of  being  good  ? '  It  is  not  true,  and  it  is  a  dangerous 
mistake  to  suggest  that  it  is  true,  that  a  man  in  this 
world  never  loses  by  being  a  good,  honest,  consistent 
Christian.  He  often  does  lose  a  great  deal,  as  far  as 
this  world  is  concerned;  and  he  has  to  make  up  his 
mind  to  lose  it,  and  it  would  be  a  very  poor  thing  to 
say  to  him,  'Now,  live  like  a  Christian  man,  and  if 
you  are  flinging  away  money  or  anything  else  because 
of  your  Christianity,  you  will  get  it  back.*  No;  you 
will  not,  in  a  good  many  cases.  Sometimes  you  will, 
and  sometimes  you  will  not.  It  does  not  matter 
Avliether  you  do  or  do  not. 

But  the  sense  in  which  the  triumphant  answer  of  the 
prophet  is  true  is  a  far  higher  one.  *  The  Lord  is  able 
to  give  thee  much  more  than  this,' — what  is  'more'? 
a  thousand  talents  ?  No ;  the  '  much  more '  that 
Christianity  has  educated  us  to  understand  is  meant 
in  the  depths  of  such  a  promise  as  this  is,  first  of  all, 
character.  Every  man  that  sacrifices  anything  to  con- 
yictions  of  duty  gains  more  than  he  loses  thereby, 


206  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxv. 

because  he  gains  in  inward  nobleness  and  strength, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  genial  warmth  of  an  approving 
conscience.  And  whilst  that  is  true  in  all  regions  of  life, 
it  is  most  especially  true  in  regard  to  sacrifices  made 
from  Christian  principle.  No  matter  how  disastrous 
may  be  the  results  externally,  the  inward  results  of 
faithfulness  are  so  much  greater  and  sweeter  and 
nobler  than  all  the  external  evil  consequences  that 
may  follow,  that  it  is  'good  policy'  for  a  man  to 
beggar  himself  for  Christ's  sake,  for  the  sake  of  the 
durable  riches — wliich  our  Lord  Himself  explains  to 
be  synonymous  with  righteousness — which  will  come 
thereby.  He  that  wins  strength  and  Christ-likeness 
of  character  by  sacrificing  for  Christ  has  won  far  more 
than  he  can  ever  lose. 

He  wins  not  only  character,  but  a  fuller  capacity  for 
a  fuller  possession  of  Jesus  Christ  Himself,  and  that 
is  infinitely  more  than  anything  that  any  man  has 
ever  sacrificed  for  the  sake  of  that  dear  Lord.  Do  you 
remember  when  it  was  that  there  was  granted  to  the 
Apostle  John  the  vision  of  the  throned  Christ,  and  that 
he  felt  laid  upon  him  the  touch  of  the  vivifying  Hand 
from  Heaven?  It  was  'when  I  was  in  Patmos  for 
the  Word  of  God,  and  for  the  testimony  of  Jesus.' 
He  lost  Ephesus;  he  gained  an  open  heaven  and  a 
visible  Christ.  Do  you  remember  who  it  was  that 
said,  'I  have  suffered  the  loss  of  all  things,  and  do 
count  them  but  dung,  that  I  may  win  Christ '?  It  was 
a  good  bargain,  Paul!  The  balance-sheet  showed  a 
heavy  balance  to  your  credit.  Debit,  '  all  things ' ; 
credit,  '  Christ.'  '  The  Lord  is  able  to  give  thee  much 
more  than  this.' 

Remember  the  old  prophecy :  '  For  brass  I  will  bring 
gold;  and  for  iron,  silver.'    The  brass   and  the  iron 


T.9]  JOTHAM  207 

may  be  worth  something,  but  if  we  barter  them  away 
and  get  instead  gold  and  silver,  we  are  gainers  by  the 
transaction.  Fling  out  the  ballast  if  you  wish  the 
balloon  to  rise.  Let  the  hundred  talents  go  if  you  wish 
to  get  *the  more  than  this.'  And  listen  to  the  New 
Testament  variation  of  this  man  of  God's  promise, 
•  If  thou  wilt  have  treasure  in  heaven,  go  and  sell  all 
that  thou  hast,  and  follow  Me,' 


JOTHAM 

'  So  Jotham  became  mighty,  because  he  prepared  his  ways  before  the  Lord  his 
God.'— 2  Chron.  xxvii.  6. 

This  King  Jotham  is  one  of  the  obscurer  of  the  Jewish 
monarchs,  and  we  know  next  to  nothing  about  him. 
The  most  memorable  event  in  his  reign  is  that  •  in  the 
year  when  King  Uzziah,'  his  father,  '  died,'  and  conse- 
quently in  Jotham's  first  year,  Isaiah  saw  the  Lord  sit- 
ting in  the  Temple  on  the  empty  throne,  and  had  the 
lips  which  were  to  utter  so  many  immortal  words 
touched  with  fire  from  the  altar.  Whether  it  were  the 
effect  of  the  prophet's  words,  or  from  other  causes,  the 
little  that  is  told  of  him  is  good,  and  he  is  eulogised  as 
having  imitated  his  father's  God-pleasing  acts,  and  not 
having  stained  himself  by  repeating  his  father's  sin. 
The  rest  that  we  hear  of  him  in  Chronicles  is  a  mere 
sketch  of  campaigns,  buildings,  and  victories,  and  then 
he  and  his  reign  are  summed  up  in  the  words  of  our 
text,  which  is  the  analysis  of  the  man  and  the  disclosure 
of  the  secret  of  his  prosperity :  '  He  became  mighty, 
because  he  prepared  his  ways' — and,  more  than  that, 
•he  prepared  them  before  the  Lord  his  God.' 

So  then,  if  we  begin,  as  it  were,  at  the  bottom,  as  we 
ought  to  do,  in  studying  a  character,  taking  the  deepest 


208  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxvii. 

thing  first,  and  laying  hold  upon  the  seminal  and  ger- 
minal principle  of  the  whole,  this  text  reminds  us  that 
— The  secret  of  true  strength  lies  in  the  continual 
recognition  that  life  is  lived  •  Before  the  Lord  our 
God; 

Now  to  say,  *  Walk  thou  before  Me,'  the  command 
given  to  Abraham,  suggests  a  somewhat  different 
modification  of  the  idea  from  the  apparently  parallel 
phrase,  '  to  walk  with  God,'  which  is  declared  to  have 
been  the  life's  habit  of  Enoch.  The  one  expression 
suggests  simple  companionship  and  communion ;  the 
other  suggests  rather  the  vivid  and  continual  realisa- 
tion of  the  thought  that  we  are  '  ever  in  the  great  Task- 
master's eye.'  To  walk  before  God  is  to  feel  thrillingly 
and  continually,  and  yet  without  being  abased  or 
crushed  or  discomposed,  but  rather  being  encouraged 
and  quickened  and  calmed  and  ennobled  and  gladdened 
thereby :  *  Thou  God  seest  me.'  It  seems  to  me  that 
one  of  the  plainest  pieces  of  Christian  duty,  and,  alas  ! 
one  of  the  most  neglected  of  them,  is  the  cultivation, 
definitely  and  consciously,  by  effort  and  by  self-disci- 
pline, of  that  consciousness  as  a  present  factor  in  all 
our  lives,  and  an  influencing  motive  in  everything  that 
we  do.  If  once  we  could  bring  before  the  eye  of  our 
minds  that  great,  blazing,  white  throne,  and  Him  that 
sits  upon  it,  we  should  want  nothing  else  to  burn  up 
the  commonplaces  of  life,  and  to  flash  its  insignificance 
into  splendour  and  awfulness.  We  should  want  no- 
thing else  to  lift  us  to  a  •  solemn  scorn  of  ills,'  and  to 
deliver  us  from  the  false  sweetnesses  and  fading 
delights  that  grow  on  the  low  levels  of  a  sense-bound 
life  !  Brethren !  our  whole  life  would  be  transformed 
and  glorified,  and  we  should  be  different  men  and 
women  if  we  ordered  our  ways  as  '  before  the  Lord  our 


V.6]  JOTHAM  209 

God*  "What  meanness  could  live  when  we  knew  that  it 
was  seen  by  those  pure  Eyes?  How  we  should  be 
ashamed  of  ourselves,  of  our  complaints,  of  our  mur- 
murings,  of  our  reluctance  to  do  our  duty,  of  our 
puerile  regrets  for  vanished  blessings,  and  of  all  the 
low  cares  and  desires  that  beset  and  spoil  our  lives,  if 
once  this  thought,  '  before  God,'  were  habitual  with  us, 
and  we  walked  in  it  as  in  an  atmosphere ! 

Why  is  it  not  ?  and  might  it  not  be  ?  and  if  it  might 
not,  ought  it  not  to  be  ?  And  what  are  we  to  say  to 
Him  whom  we  profess  to  love  as  our  Supreme  Good,  if 
all  the  day  long  the  thought  of  Him  seldom  comes  into 
our  minds,  and  if  any  triviality,  held  near  the  eye,  is 
large  enough  and  bright  enough  to  shut  Him  out  from 
our  sight  ?  With  deep  ethical  significance  and  accuracy 
was  the  command  given  to  Abraham  as  the  sole,  all- 
sufficient  direction  for  both  inward  and  outward  life  : 
'  Walk  before  Me  and  (so)  be  thou  perfect.'  For  indeed 
the  full  realisation — adequate  and  constant  and  solid 
enough  to  be  a  motive — of  '  Thou  God  seest  me,'  would 
be  found  to  contain  practical  directions  in  regard  to  all 
moral  difficulties,  and  would  unfailingly  detect  the 
evil,  howsoever  wrapped  up,  and  would  carry  in  itself 
not  only  motive  but  impulse,  not  only  law  but  power 
to  fulfil  it.  The  Master's  eye  makes  diligent  servants. 
How  schoolboys  bend  themselves  over  their  slates  and 
quicken  their  effort  when  the  teacher  is  walking  behind 
the  benches !  And  how  a  gang  of  idle  labourers  will 
buckle  to  the  spade  and  tax  their  muscles  in  an  alto- 
gether different  fashion  when  the  overseer  appears 
upon  the  field !  If  we  realised,  as  we  should  do,  the 
presence  in  all  our  little  daily  life  of  that  great,  sove- 
reign Lord,  there  would  be  less  skulking,  less  superfici- 
ally performed   tasks,  less   jerry  work    put  into  our 

o 


210  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxvii. 

building ;  more  of  our  strength  cast  into  all  our  work, 
and  leas  of  ourselves  in  any  of  it. 

Remember,  too,  how  connected  with  this  is  another 
piece  of  effort  needful  in  the  religious  life,  and  suggested 
by  the  last  words  of  this  text,  'Before  the  Lord  his 
God.'  Cultivate  the  habit  of  narrowing  down  the 
general  truths  of  religion  to  their  relation  to  yourselves. 
Do  not  be  content  with  '  the  Lord  our  God,'  or  *  the 
Lord  the  God  of  the  whole  earth,'  but  put  a  *  my '  in, 
and  realise  not  only  the  presence  of  a  divine  Inspector, 
but  the  closeness  of  the  personal  bond  that  unites  to 
Him ;  and  the  individual  responsibility,  in  all  its  width 
and  depth  and  unshiftableness — if  I  may  use  such  a 
word — which  results  therefrom.  You  cannot  shake  off 
or  step  out  of  the  tasks  that '  the  Lord  your  God '  lays 
upon  you.  You  and  He  are  as  if  alone  in  the  world. 
Make  Him  your  God  by  choice,  by  your  own  personal 
acceptance  of  His  authority  and  dependence  upon  His 
power,  and  try  to  translate  into  daily  life  the  great 
truth,  •  Thou  God  seest  me,'  and  bring  it  to  bear  upon 
the  veriest  trifles  and  smallest  details. 

Now  the  text  follows  the  order  of  observation,  so  to 
speak,  and  mentions  the  outward  facts  of  Jotham's 
success  before  it  goes  deeper  and  accounts  for  them. 
We  have  reversed  the  process  and  dealt  first  with  the 
cause.  The  spring  of  all  lay  in  his  conscious  recogni- 
tion of  his  relation  to  God  and  God's  to  him.  From 
that,  of  course,  followed  that  he  'prepared,'  according 
to  the  Authorised  Version,  or  *  ordered,'  according  to 
the  Revised  Version,  '  his  ways.'  There  is  an  alternative 
rendering  of  the  word  rendered  '  prepared '  or  *  ordered ' 
given  in  the  margin  of  the  Authorised  Version,  which 
reads,  •  established  his  ways.'  Both  the  ideas  of  order- 
ing and  establishing  are  contained  in  the  word. 


V.6]  JOTHAM  211 

Now  that  fact,  that  the  same  word  means  both  these, 
conveys  a  piece  of  practical  wisdom,  which  it  will  do  us 
all  good  to  note  clearly  and  take  to  heart.  For  it 
teaches  us  that  whatever  is  'ordered'  is  firm,  and  what- 
ever is  disorderly,  haphazard,  done  without  the  exercise 
of  one's  mind  on  the  act,  being  chaotic,  is  necessarily 
short-lived. 

The  ordered  life  is  the  established  life.  The  life  of 
impulse,  chance,  passion,  the  life  that  is  lived  without 
choice  and  plan,  without  reflection  and  consideration  of 
consequences,  the  following  of  nature,  which  some 
people  tell  us  is  the  highest  law,  and  which  is  wofuUy 
likely  to  degenerate  into  following  the  lower  nature, 
which  ought  not  to  be  followed,  but  covered  and  kept 
under  hatches — such  a  life  is  sure  to  be  a  topsy-turvy 
life,  which,  being  based  upon  the  narrowest  point, 
must,  by  the  laws  of  equilibrium,  topple  over  sooner  or 
later.  If  you  would  have  your  lives  established,  they 
must  be  ordered.  You  must  bring  your  brains  to  bear 
upon  them,  and  you  must  bring  more  than  brain,  you 
must  bring  to  bear  on  every  part  of  them  the  spiritual 
instincts  that  are  quickened  by  contact  with  the  thought 
of  the  All-seeing  God,  and  let  these  have  the  ordering 
of  them.  Such  lives,  and  only  such,  will  endure  '  when 
all  that  seems  shall  suffer  shock.'  *  He  that  doeth  the 
will  of  God  abideth  for  ever.' 

But  the  lesson  that  is  pressed  upon  us  by  this  word, 
understood  in  the   other  meanings  of  *  prepared '  or 

•  ordered,'  is  that  all  our  '  ways,'  that  is,  our  practical 
life,  our  acts,  direction  of  mind,  habits,  should  be  regu- 
lated by  continual  consciousness  of,  and  reference  to, 
the  All-discerning  Eye  that  looks  down  upon  us,  and 

•  the  God  in  whose  hands  our  breath  is,  and  whose  are ' 
— whether  we  make  them  so  or  not — '  all  our  ways.'    To 


212  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxvir. 

translate  that  into  less  picturesque,  and  less  forcible, 
but  more  modern  words,  it  is  just  this :  You  Christian 
people  ought  to  make  it  a  point  of  duty  to  cultivate 
the  habit  of  referring  everything  that  you  do  to  the 
will  and  judgment  of  God.  Take  Him  into  account  in 
everything  great  or  small,  and  in  nothing  say,  '  Thus  I 
will,  thus  I  command.  My  will  shall  stand  instead  of 
all  other  reasons ' ;  but  say,  '  Lord !  by  Thee  and  for 
Thee  I  try  to  do  this ' ;  and  having  done  it,  say,  '  Lord ! 
the  seed  is  sown  in  Thy  name ;  bless  Thou  the  springing 
thereof.'  Works  thus  begun,  continued  and  ended,  will 
never  be  put  to  confusion,  and  *  ways'  thus  ordered  will 
be  established.  A  path  of  righteousness  like  that  can 
no  more  fail  to  be  a  way  of  peace  than  can  God's  throne 
ever  totter  or  fall.  An  ordered  life  in  which  He  is  con- 
sulted, and  which  is  all  shaped  at  His  bidding,  and  by 
His  strength,  and  for  His  dear  name,  will  'stand  four- 
square to  all  the  winds  that  blow,'  and,  being  founded 
upon  a  rock,  will  never  fall. 

But  we  may  also  note  that  in  the  strength  of  that 
thought,  that  we  are  before  the  Lord  our  God,  we  shall 
best  establish  our  ways  in  the  sense  that  we  shall  keep 
on  steadily  and  doggedly  on  the  path.  Well  begun 
may  be  half  ended,  but  there  is  often  a  long  dreary 
grind  before  it  is  wholly  ended,  and  the  last  half  of  the 
march  is  the  wearisome  half.  The  Bible  has  a  great 
deal  to  say  about  the  need  of  obstinate  persistence  on 
the  right  road.  'Ye  did  run  well,  what  did  hinder 
you?'  'Cast  not  away  your  confidence,  which  hath 
great  recompense  of  reward.'  '  We  are  made  partakers 
of  Christ  if  we  hold  fast  the  beginning  of  our  confidence 
firm  unto  the  end.'  '  He  that  overcometh  and  keepeth 
My  words  unto  the  end,  to  him  will  I  give  authority.' 
Lives  which  derive  their  impulse  from  communion  with 


T.6]  JOTHAM  213 

God  will  not  come  to  a  dead  stop  half-way  on  their 
road,  like  a  motor  the  fuel  of  which  fails ;  and  it  will  be 
impossible  for  any  man  to  '  endure  unto  the  end,'  and 
so  to  be  heir  of  the  promise — '  the  same  shall  be  saved,' 
unless  he  draws  his  persistency  from  Him  who  '  fainteth 
not,  neither  is  weary,'  and  who  '  reneweth  strength  to 
them  that  have  no  might,'  so  that  in  all  the  monotonous 
levels  they  shall  'walk  and  not  faint,'  and  in  all  the 
crises,  demanding  brief  spurts  of  energy,  'they  shall 
run  and  not  be  weary,'  and  at  last  '  shall  mount  up 
with  wings  as  eagles.'  A  path  ordered  and  a  path  per- 
sisted in  ought  to  be  the  path  of  every  Christian  man. 

The  text  finally  tells  of  the  prosperity  and  growing 
power  which  attends  such  a  course.  '  Jotham  became 
mighty.'  That  was  simple  outward  blessing.  His 
kingdom  prospered,  and,  according  to  the  theocratic 
constitution  of  Judah,  faithfulness  to  God  and  material 
well-being  went  together.  You  cannot  apply  these 
words,  of  course,  to  the  outward  lives  of  Christians.  It 
is  no  doubt  true  that  '  Godliness  is  profitable  for  all 
things,'  but  there  are  a  great  many  other  things  besides 
the  godliness  of  the  man  that  does  them  which  deter- 
mine whether  a  man's  undertakings  shall  prosper  in  the 
world's  sense  or  not.  It  would  be  a  pitiable  thing  if 
the  full  revelation  of  God  in  Christ  did  not  teach  us 
Christians  more  about  the  meaning  and  the  worth  of 
outward  success  and  inward  prosperity  than  the  Old 
Testament  could  teach.  I  hope  we  have  learned  that 
lesson ;  at  least,  it  is  not  the  fault  of  our  lesson  book  if 
we  have  not.  Although  it  is  true  that  religion  does 
make  the  best  of  both  worlds,  it  does  not  do  so  by 
taking  the  world's  estimate  of  what  its  best  for  to-day 
is,  and  giving  a  religious  man  that.  Sometimes  it  does, 
and  sometimes  it  does  not,  and  whether  it  does  or  no 


214  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxvii. 

depends  on  other  considerations  than  the  reality  of  the 
man's  devotion.  Good  men  are  often  made  better  by 
being  made  sad  and  unsuccessful.  And  if  they  are  not 
bettered  by  adversity,  it  is  not  the  fault  of  the  disci- 
pline but  of  the  people  who  undergo  it. 

But  though  the  husk  of  my  text  falls  away — and  we 
should  thank  God  that  it  has  fallen  away — the  kernel 
of  it  is  ever  true.  Whosoever  will  thus  root  his  life  in 
the  living  thought  of  a  loving,  divine  Eye  being  per- 
petually upon  him,  and  make  that  thought  a  motive 
for  holiness  and  loving  obedience  and  effort  after  ser- 
vice, will  find  that  the  true  success,  the  only  success  and 
the  only  strength  that  are  worth  a  man's  ambition  to 
desire  or  his  effort  to  secure,  will  assuredly  be  his.  He 
may  be  voted  a  failure  as  regards  the  world's  prizes. 
But  a  man  that  '  orders  his  ways,'  and  perseveres  in 
ways  thus  ordered,  '  before  the  Lord '  will  for  reward 
get  more  power  to  order  his  ways,  and  a  purer  and 
more  thrilling,  less  interrupted  and  more  childlike 
vision  of  the  Face  that  looks  upon  him.  God's  *  eyes  be- 
hold the  upright,'  and  the  upright  behold  His  eyes,  and 
in  the  interchange  of  glances  there  is  power;  and  in 
that  power  is  the  highest  reward  for  ordered  lives.  We 
shall  get  power  to  do,  power  to  bear,  power  to  think 
aright,  power  to  love,  power  to  will,  power  to  behold, 
power  to  deny  ourselves,  'power  to  become  sons  of  God.' 
This  is  the  success  of  life,  when  out  of  all  its  changes, 
and  by  reason  of  all  its  efforts,  we  realise  more  fully 
our  filial  possession  of  our  Father,  and  our  Father's 
changeless  love  to  us.  We  shall  become  mighty  with 
the  might  that  is  born  of  obedience  and  faith  if  we 
order  our  ways  before  the  Lord  our  God.  '  The  path  of 
the  just  is  as  the  shining  light,  that  shineth  more  and 
more  ui;itil  the  noontide  of  the  day.' 


COSTLY  AND  FATAL  HELP 

'He  sacrificed  unto  the  gods  of  Damascus,  which  smote  him:  and  he  said, 
Because  the  gods  of  the  kings  of  Syria  help  them,  therefore  will  I  sacrifice  to 
them,  that  they  may  help  me.  But  they  were  the  ruin  of  him,  and  of  all  Israel.' 
—2  Chron.  xxviii.  23. 

Ahaz  came  to  the  throne  when  a  youth  of  twenty. 
From  the  beginning  he  reversed  the  policy  of  his 
father,  and  threw  himself  into  the  arms  of  the 
heathen  party.  In  a  comparatively  short  reign  of 
sixteen  years  he  stamped  out  the  worship  of  God, 
and  nearly  ruined  the  kingdom. 

He  did  not  plunge  into  idolatry  for  want  of  good 
advice.  The  greatest  of  the  prophets  stood  beside  him. 
Isaiah  addressed  to  him  remonstrances  which  might 
have  made  the  most  reckless  pause,  and  promises 
which  might  have  kindled  hope  and  courage  in  the 
bosom  of  despair.  Hosea  in  the  northern  kingdom, 
Micah  in  Judah,  and  other  less  brilliant  names  were 
amongst  the  stars  which  shone  even  in  that  dark 
night.  But  their  light  was  all  in  vain.  The  foolish 
lad  had  got  the  bit  between  his  teeth,  and,  like  many 
another  young  man,  thought  to  show  his  '  breadth ' 
and  his  'spirit'  by  neglecting  his  father's  counsellors, 
and  abandoning  his  father's  faith.  He  was  ready  to 
worship  anything  that  called  itself  a  god,  always  ex- 
cepting Jehovah.  He  welcomed  Baal,  Moloch,  Rimmon, 
and  many  more  with  an  indiscriminate  eagerness  that 
would  have  been  ludicrous  if  it  had  not  been  tragical. 
The  more  he  multiplied  his  gods  the  more  he  multiplied 
his  sorrows,  and  the  more  he  multiplied  his  sorrows  the 
more  he  multiplied  his  gods. 

From  all  sides  the  invaders  came.  From  north,  north- 
east, east,  south-east,  south,  they  swarmed  in  upon  him. 

216 


216  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxviii. 

They  tore  away  the  fringes  of  his  kingdom ;  and  hostile 
armies  flaunted  their  banners  beneath  the  very  walls 
of  Jerusalem. 

And  then,  in  his  despair,  like  a  scorpion  in  a  circle 
of  fire,  he  inflicted  a  deadly  wound  on  himself  by  calling 
in  the  fatal  help  of  Assyria.  Nothing  loth,  that  warlike 
power  responded,  scattered  his  less  formidable  foes,  and 
then  swallowed  the  prey  which  it  had  dragged  from 
between  the  teeth  of  the  Israelites  and  Syrians.  The 
result  of  Ahaz's  frantic  appeals  to  false  gods  and  faith- 
less men  may  still  be  read  on  the  cuneiform  inscrip- 
tions, where,  amidst  a  long  list  of  unknown  tributary 
kings,  stands,  with  a  Philistine  on  one  side  of  him 
and  an  Ammonite  on  the  other,  the  shameful  record, 
'  Ahaz  of  Judah.' 

That  was  what  came  of  forsaking  the  God  of  his 
fathers.  It  is  a  type  of  what  always  has  come,  and 
always  must  come,  of  a  godless  life.  That  is  the  point 
of  view  from  which  I  wish  to  look  at  the  story,  and 
at  these  words  of  my  text  which  gather  the  whole 
spirit  of  it  into  one  sentence. 

I.  First,  then,  let  me  ask  you  to  notice  how  this 
narrative  illustrates  for  us  the  crowd  of  vain  helpers 
to  which  a  man  has  to  take  when  he  turns  his  back 
upon  God. 

If  we  compare  the  narrative  in  our  chapter  with 
the  parallel  in  the  Second  Book  of  Kings,  we  get  a 
very  vivid  picture  of  the  strange  medley  of  idolatries 
which  they  introduced.  Amongst  Ahaz's  new  gods  are, 
for  instance,  the  golden  calves  of  Israel  and  the  fero- 
cious Moloch  of  Ammon,  to  whom  he  sacrificed,  passing 
through  the  fire  at  least  one  of  his  own  children. 
The  ancient  sacred  places  of  the  Canaanites,  on  every 
high  hill  and  beneath   every  conspicuous  tree,  again 


V.23]       COSTLY  AND  FATAL  HELP       217 

smoked  with  incense  to  half-forgotten  local  deities. 
In  every  open  space  in  Jerusalem  he  planted  a  brand- 
new  altar  with  a  brand-new  worship  attendant  upon  it. 
In  the  Temple,  he  brushed  aside  the  altar  that  Solomon 
had  made  and  put  up  a  new  one,  copied  from  one 
which  he  had  seen  at  Damascus.  The  importation  of 
the  Damascene  altar,  I  suppose,  meant,  as  our  text 
tells  us,  the  importation  of  the  Damascene  gods  along 
with  it. 

Side  by  side  with  that  multiplication  of  false  deities 
went  the  almost  entire  neglect  of  the  worship  of 
Jehovah,  until  at  last,  as  his  reign  advanced  and  he 
floundered  deeper  into  his  troubles,  the  Temple  was 
spoiled,  everything  in  it  that  could  be  laid  hands  upon 
was  sent  to  the  melting-pot,  to  pay  the  Assyrian 
tribute;  and  then  the  doors  were  shut,  the  lamps 
extinguished,  the  fire  quenched  on  the  cold  altars, 
and  the  silent  Temple  left  to  the  bats  and  —  the 
Shekinah ;  for  God  still  abode  in  the  deserted  house. 

Further,  side  by  side  with  this  appealing  all  round 
the  horizon  to  whatsoever  obscene  and  foul  shape 
seemed  to  promise  some  help,  there  went  the  foolish 
appeal  to  the  northern  invaders  to  come  and  aid  him, 
which  they  did,  to  his  destruction.  His  whole  career 
is  that  of  a  godless  and  desperate  man  who  will  grasp 
at  anything  that  offers  deliverance,  and  will  worship 
any  god  or  devil  who  will  extricate  him  from  his 
troubles. 

Is  the  breed  extinct,  think  you?  Is  there  any  one 
among  us  who,  if  he  cannot  get  what  he  wants  by 
fair  ways,  will  try  to  get  it  by  foul  ?  Do  none  of  you 
ever  bow  down  to  Satan  for  a  slice  of  the  kingdoms 
of  this  world  ?  Ahaz  has  still  plenty  of  brothers  and 
sisters  in  all  our  churches  and  chapels. 


218  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxviii. 

This  story  illustrates  for  us  what,  alas !  is  only  too 
true,  both  on  the  broad  scale,  as  to  the  generation  in 
which  we  live,  and  on  the  narrower  field  of  our  own 
individual  lives.  Look  at  the  so-called  cultured  classes 
of  Europe  to-day ;  turning  away,  as  so  many  of  them 
are,  from  the  Lord  God  of  their  fathers;  what  sort 
of  gods  are  they  worshipping  instead?  Scraps  from 
Buddhism,  the  Vedas,  any  sacred  books  but  the  Bible ; 
quackeries,  and  charlatanism,  and  dreams,  and  frag- 
mentary philosophies  all  pieced  together,  to  try  and 
make  up  a  whole,  instead  of  the  old-fashioned  whole 
that  they  have  left  behind  them.  There  are  men  and 
women  in  many  congregations  who,  in  modem  fashion, 
are  doing  precisely  the  thing  that  Ahaz  did — having 
abandoned  Christianity,  they  are  trying  to  make  up 
for  it  by  hastily  stitching  together  shreds  and  patches 
that  they  have  found  in  other  systems.  *  The  garment 
is  narrower  than  that  a  man  can  wrap  himself  in  it,' 
and  a  creed  patched  together  so  will  never  make  a 
seamless  whole  which  can  be  trusted  not  to  rend. 

But  look,  further,  how  the  same  thing  is  true  as  to 
the  individual  lives  of  godless  men. 

Many  of  us  are  trying  to  make  up  for  not  having 
the  One  by  seeking  to  stay  our  hearts  on  the  many. 
But  no  accumulation  of  insufficiencies  will  ever  make 
a  sufficiency.  You  may  fill  the  heaven  all  over  with 
stars,  bright  and  thickly  set  as  those  in  the  whitest  spot 
in  the  galaxy,  and  it  will  be  night  still.  Day  needs 
the  sun,  and  the  sun  is  one,  and  when  it  comes  the 
twinkling  lights  are  forgotten.  You  cannot  make  up 
for  God  by  any  extended  series  of  creatures,  any  more 
than  a  row  of  figures  that  stretched  from  here  to  Sirius 
and  back  again  would  approximate  to  infinitude. 

The  very  fact  of  the  multitude  of  helpers  is  a  sign 


V.23]       COSTLY  AND  FATAL  HELP       219 

that  none  of  them  is  sufficient.  There  is  no  end 
of  'cures'  for  toothache,  that  is  to  say  there  is  none. 
There  is  no  end  of  helps  for  men  that  have  abandoned 
God,  that  is  to  say,  every  one  in  turn  when  it  is  tried, 
and  the  stress  of  the  soul  rests  upon  it,  gives,  and  is 
found  to  be  a  broken  staff  that  pierces  the  hand  that 
leans  upon  it. 

Consult  your  own  experience.  What  is  the  meaning 
of  the  unrest  and  distraction  that  mark  the  lives  of 
most  of  the  men  in  this  generation  ?  Why  is  it  that 
you  hurry  from  business  to  pleasure,  from  pleasure 
to  business,  until  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  get  a  quiet 
breathing  time  for  thought  at  all?  Why  is  it  but 
because  one  after  another  of  your  gods  have  proved 
insufficient,  and  so  fresh  altars  must  be  built  for  fresh 
idolatries,  and  new  experiments  made,  of  which  we 
can  safely  prophesy  the  result  will  be  the  old  one. 
We  have  not  got  beyond  St.  Augustine's  saying: — 
*  Oh,  God !  my  heart  was  made  for  Thee,  and  in  Thee 
only  doth  it  find  repose.'  The  many  idols,  though  you 
multiply  them  beyond  count,  all  put  together  will 
never  make  the  One  God.  You  are  seeking  what 
you  will  never  find.  The  many  pearls  that  you  seek 
will  never  be  enough  for  you.  The  true  wealth  is 
One, '  One  pearl  of  great  price.* 

II.  So  notice  again  how  this  story  teaches  the  heavy 
cost  of  these  helpers'  help. 

Ahaz  had,  as  he  thought,  two  strings  to  his  bow. 
He  had  the  gods  of  Damascus  and  of  other  lands  on 
one  hand,  he  had  the  king  of  Assyria  on  another.  They 
both  of  them  exacted  onerous  terms  before  they  would 
stir  a  foot  to  his  aid.  As  for  the  northern  conqueror, 
all  the  wealth  of  the  king  and  of  the  princes  and  of 
the  Temple  was  sent  to  Assyria  as  the  price  of  his 


220  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxvm. 

hurtful  help.  As  for  the  gods,  his  helpers,  one  of 
his  sons  at  least  went  into  the  furnace  to  secure 
their  favour ;  and  what  other  sacrifices  he  may  have 
made  besides  the  sacrifice  of  his  conscience  and  his 
soul  history  does  not  tell  us.  These  were  consider- 
able subsidies  to  have  to  be  paid  down  before  any  aid 
was  granted. 

Do  you  buy  this  world's  help  any  cheaper,  my 
brother  ?  You  get  nothing  for  nothing  in  that  market. 
It  is  a  big  price  that  you  have  to  pay  before  these 
mercenaries  will  come  to  fight  on  your  side.  Here  is 
a  man  that '  succeeds  in  life,'  as  we  call  it.  What  does 
it  cost  him?  Well!  it  has  cost  him  the  suppression, 
the  atrophy  by  disuse,  of  many  capacities  in  his  soul 
which  were  far  higher  and  nobler  than  those  that 
have  been  exercised  in  his  success.  It  has  cost  him 
all  his  days ;  it  has  possibly  cost  him  the  dying  out  of 
generous  sympathies  and  the  stimulating  of  unwhole- 
some selfishness.  Ah!  he  has  bought  his  prosperity 
very  dear.  Political  economists  have  much  to  say 
about  the  'appreciation  of  gold.'  I  think  if  people 
wovild  estimate  what  they  pay  for  it,  in  an  immense 
majority  of  cases,  in  treasure  that  cannot  be  weighed 
and  stamped,  they  would  find  it  to  be  about  the 
dearest  thing  in  God's  universe ;  and  that  there  are 
few  men  who  make  worse  bargains  than  the  men  who 
give  themselves  for  worldly  success,  even  when  they 
receive  what  they  give  themselves  for. 

There  are  some  of  you  who  know  how  much  what 
you  call  enjoyment  has  cost  you.  Some  of  us  have 
bought  pleasure  at  the  price  of  innocence,  of  moral 
dignity,  of  stained  memories,  of  polluted  imaginations, 
of  an  incapacity  to  rise  above  the  flesh :  and  some  of 
us  have  bought  it  at  the  price  of  health.    The  world 


V.  23]       COSTLY  AND  FATAL  HELP       221 

has  a  way  of  getting  more  out  of  you  than  it  gives 
to  you. 

At  the  best,  if  you  are  not  Christian  men  and  women, 
whether  you  are  men  of  business,  votaries  of  pleasure, 
seekers  after  culture  and  refinement  or  anything  else, 
you  have  given  Heaven  to  get  earth.  Is  that  a  good 
bargain?  Is  it  much  wiser  than  that  of  a  horde  of 
naked  savages  that  sell  a  great  tract  of  fair  country, 
with  gold-bearing  reefs  in  it,  for  a  bottle  of  rum,  and 
a  yard  or  two  of  calico  ?  What  is  the  difference  ?  You 
have  been  fooled  out  of  the  inheritance  which  God 
meant  for  you;  and  you  have  got  for  it  transient 
satisfaction,  and  partial  as  it  is  transient.  If  you  are 
not  Christian  people,  you  have  to  buy  this  world's 
wealth  and  goods  at  the  price  of  God  and  of  your 
own  souls.  And  I  ask  you  if  that  is  an  investment 
which  recommends  itself  to  your  common  sense.  Oh ! 
my  brother;  'what  shall  it  profit  a  man  if  he  gain 
the  whole  world,  and  lose  himself?'  Answer  the 
question. 

III.  Lastly,  we  may  gather  from  this  story  an  illus- 
tration of  the  fatal  falsehood  of  the  world's  help. 

Ahaz  pauperised  himself  to  buy  the  hireling  swords 
of  Assyria,  and  he  got  them ;  but,  as  it  says  in  the 
narrative,  '  the  king  came  unto  him,  and  distressed  him, 
but  strengthened  him  not.'  He  helped  Ahaz  at  first. 
He  scattered  the  armies  of  which  the  king  of  Judah 
was  afraid  like  chaff,  with  his  fierce  and  disciplined 
onset.  And  then,  having  driven  them  off  the  bleeding 
prey,  he  put  his  own  paw  upon  it,  and  growled  *  Mine ! ' 
And  where  he  struck  his  claws  there  was  little  more 
hope  of  life  for  the  prostrate  creature  below  him. 

Ay !  and  that  is  what  this  world  always  does.  In 
the  case  before  us  there  was  providential  guidance  of 


222  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxviii. 

the  politics  of  the  Eastern  nations  in  order  to  bring 
about  these  results ;  and  we  do  not  look  for  anything 
of  that  sort.  No !  But  there  are  natural  laws  at  work 
to-day  which  are  God's  laws,  and  which  ensure  the 
worthlessness  of  the  help  bought  so  dear. 

A  godless  life  has  at  the  best  only  partial  satisfaction, 
and  that  partial  satisfaction  soon  diminishes.  'Even 
in  laughter  the  heart  is  sorrowful,  and  the  end  of  that 
mirth  is  heaviness.' 

That  is  the  experience  of  all  men,  and  I  need  not 
dwell  upon  the  threadbare  commonplaces  which  have 
survived  from  generation  to  generation,  because  each 
generation  in  turn  has  found  them  so  piteously  true, 
about  the  incompleteness  and  the  fleetingness  of  all 
the  joys  and  treasures  of  this  life.  The  awful  power 
of  habit,  if  there  were  no  other  reason,  takes  the  edge 
off  all  gratification  except  in  so  far  as  God  is  in  it. 
Nothing  fully  retains  its  power  to  satisfy.  Nothing 
has  that  power  absolutely  at  any  moment;  but  even 
what  measure  of  it  any  of  our  possessions  or  pursuits 
may  have  for  a  time,  soon,  or  at  all  events  by  degrees, 
passes  away.  The  greater  part  of  life  is  but  like  drink- 
ing out  of  empty  cups,  and  the  cups  drop  from  our 
hands.  What  one  of  our  purest  and  peacefullest  poets 
said  in  his  haste  about  all  his  kind  is  true  in  spirit  of 
all  godless  lives : — 

•  We  poets,  in  our  youth,  begin  in  gladness, 
But  thereof  cometh,  in  the  end,  despondency  and  madness.' 

•  Vanity  of  vanities !  saith ' — not  the  Preacher  only,  but 
the  inmost  heart  of  every  godless  man  and  woman — 

*  vanity  of  vanities !  all  is  vanity!' 

And  do  not  forget  that,  partial  and  transient  as 
these  satisfactions  of  which  I  have  been  speaking  are, 


V.23]        COSTLY  AND  FATAL  HELP      223 

they  derive  what  power  of  helping  and  satisfying  is 
in  them  only  from  the  silence  of  our  consciences,  and 
our  success  in  being  able  to  shut  out  realities.  One 
word,  they  say,  spoken  too  loud,  brings  down  the 
avalanche,  and  beneath  its  white,  cold  death,  the 
active  form  is  motionless  and  the  beating  heart  lies 
still.  One  word  from  conscience,  one  touch  of  an 
awakened  reflectiveness,  one  glance  at  the  end — the 
coffin  and  the  shroud  and  what  comes  after  these — slay 
your  worldly  satisfactions  as  surely  as  that  falling 
snow  would  crush  some  light- winged,  gauzy  butterfly 
that  had  been  dancing  at  the  cliff's  foot.  Your 
jewellery  is  all  imitation.  It  is  well  enough  for 
candle-light.  Would  you  like  to  try  the  testing  acid 
upon  it  ?  Here  is  a  drop  of  it.  •  Know  thou  that  for 
all  these  things  God  will  bring  thee  into  judgment.' 
Does  it  smoke?  or  does  it  stand  the  test?  Here  is 
another  drop.  'This  night  thy  soul  shall  be  required 
of  thee.'  Does  it  stand  that  test?  My  brother!  do 
not  be  afraid  to  take  in  all  the  facts  of  your  earthly 
life,  and  do  not  pretend  to  satisfy  yourselves  with 
satisfactions  which  dare  not  face  realities,  and  shrivel 
up  at  their  presence. 

These  fatal  helpers  come  as  friends  and  allies,  and  they 
remain  as  masters.  Ahaz  and  a  hundred  other  weak 
princes  have  tried  the  policy  of  sending  for  a  strong 
foreign  power  to  scatter  their  enemies,  and  it  has 
always  turned  out  one  way.  The  foreigner  has  come 
and  he  has  stopped.  The  auxiliary  has  become  the 
lord,  and  he  that  called  him  to  his  aid  becomes  his 
tributary.  Ay !  and  so  it  is  with  all  the  things  of  this 
world.  Here  is  some  pleasant  indulgence  that  I  call 
to  my  help  lightly  and  thoughtlessly.  It  is  very  agree- 
able and  does  what  I  wanted  with  it,  and  I  trj  it  again. 


224  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxviii 

Still  it  answers  to  my  call.  And  then  after  a  while  I 
say, '  I  am  going  to  give  that  up,'  and  I  cannot.  I  have 
brought  in  a  master  when  I  thought  I  was  only  bring- 
ing in  an  ally  that  I  could  dismiss  when  I  liked.  The 
sides  of  the  pit  are  very  slippery ;  it  is  gay  travelling 
down  them,  but  when  the  animal  is  trapped  at  the 
bottom  there  is  no  possibility  of  getting  up  again.  So 
some  of  you,  dear  friends!  have  got  masters  in  your, 
delights,  masters  in  your  pursuits,  masters  in  your 
habits.  These  are  your  gods,  these  are  your  tyrants, 
and  you  will  find  out  that  they  are  so,  if  ever,  in  your 
own  strength,  you  try  to  break  away  from  them. 

So  let  me  plead  with  you.  With  some  of  you, 
perhaps,  my  voice,  as  a  familiar  voice,  that  in  some 
measure,  however  undeservedly,  you  trust,  may  have 
influence.  Let  me  plead  with  you — do  not  run  after 
these  will-o'-the-wisps  that  will  only  lure  you  into 
destruction,  but  follow  the  light  of  life  which  is  Jesus 
Christ  Himself.  Do  not  take  these  tyrants  for  your 
helpers,  who  will  master  you  under  pretence  of  aiding 
you  ;  and  work  their  will  of  you  instead  of  lightening 
your  burden.  The  same  unwise  and  hopeless  mode  of 
life,  which  we  have  been  describing  this  evening  by  one 
symbolic  illustration,  as  calling  vain  helpers  to  our  aid, 
was  presented  by  Ahaz's  great  contemporary  Isaiah,  in 
words  which  Ahaz  himself  may  have  heard,  as  '  strik- 
ing a  covenant  with  death,  and  making  lies  our  refuge.' 
Some  of  us,  alas!  have  been  doing  that  all  our  lives. 
Let  such  hearken  to  the  solemn  words  which  may  have 
rung  in  the  ears  of  this  unworthy  king.  *  Judgment 
also  will  I  lay  to  the  line,  and  righteousness  to  the 
plummet,  and  the  hail  shall  sweep  away  the  refuge  of 
lies.'  I  come  to  you,  dear  friends !  to  press  on  your 
acceptance  the  true    Guide   and  Helper — even  Jesus 


V.  23]         A  GODLY  REFORMATION  225 

Christ  your  Brother,  in  whose  single  Self  you  will  find 
all  that  you  have  vainly  sought  dispersed  'at  sundry 
times  and  in  divers  manners '  —  among  creatures. 
Take  Him  for  your  Saviour  by  trusting  your  whole 
selves  to  Him.  He  is  the  Sacrifice  by  whose  blood 
all  our  sins  are  washed  away,  and  the  Indweller,  by 
whose  Spirit  all  our  spirits  are  ennobled  and  gladdened. 
I  ask  you  to  take  Him  for  your  Helper,  who  will  never 
deceive  you ;  to  call  whom  to  our  aid  is  to  be  secure 
and  victorious  for  ever.  *  Behold !  I  lay  in  Zion  for  a 
foundation  a  stone,  a  tried  stone,  a  precious  corner- 
stone, a  sure  foundation :  he  that  believeth  shall  not 
make  haste.' 


A  GODLY  REFORMATION 

'Hezekiah  began  to  reign  when  he  was  five  and  twenty  years  old,  and  he  reigned 
nine  and  twenty  years  in  Jerusalem.  And  his  mother's  name  was  Abijah,  the 
daughter  of  Zechariah.  2.  And  he  did  that  which  was  right  in  the  sight  of  the 
Lord,  according  to  all  that  David  his  father  had  done.  3.  He  in  the  first  year  of 
his  reign,  in  the  first  month,  opened  the  doors  of  the  house  of  the  Lord,  and  re- 
paired them.  L  And  he  brought  in  the  priests  and  the  Levites,  and  gathered 
them  together  into  the  east  street,  5.  And  said  unto  them.  Hear  me,  ye  Levites ; 
Sanctify  now  yourselves,  and  sanctify  the  house  of  the  Lord  God  of  your  fathers, 
and  carry  forth  the  filthiness  out  of  the  holy  place.  6.  For  our  fathers  have 
trespassed,  and  done  that  which  was  evil  in  the  eyes  of  the  Lord  our  God,  and 
have  forsaken  Him,  and  have  turned  away  their  faces  from  the  habitation  of  the 
Lord,  and  turned  their  backs.  7.  Also  they  have  shut  up  the  doors  of  the  porch, 
and  put  out  the  lamps,  and  have  not  burnt  incense,  nor  offered  burnt-ofl^erings 
in  the  holy  place  unto  the  God  of  Israel.  8.  Wherefore  the  wrath  of  the  Lord 
was  upon  Judah  and  Jerusalem,  and  He  hath  delivered  them  to  trouble,  to 
astonishment,  and  to  hissing,  as  ye  see  with  your  eyes.  9.  For,  lo,  our  fathers 
have  fallen  by  the  sword ;  and  our  sons  and  our  daughters  and  our  wives  are  in 
captivity  for  this.  10.  Now  it  is  in  mine  heart  to  make  a  covenant  with  the 
Lord  God  of  Israel,  that  His  fierce  wrath  may  turn  away  from  us.  11.  My  sons, 
be  not  now  negligent :  for  the  Lord  hath  chosen  you  to  stand  before  Him,  to  serve 
Him,  and  that  ye  should  minister  unto  Him,  and  burn  incense.'  —  2  Chron. 
xzix.  1-11. 

Hezekiah,  the  best  of  the  later  kings,  had  the  worst 
for  his  father,  and  another  almost  as  bad  for  his  son. 
His  own  piety  was  probably  deepened  by  the  mad 
extravagance  of  his  father's  boundless  idolatry,  which 

P 


226  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxix. 

brought  the  kingdom  to  the  verge  of  ruin.  Action  and 
reaction  are  equal  and  contrary.  Saints  grown  amidst 
fashionable  and  deep  corruption  are  generally  strong, 
and  reformers  usually  arise  from  the  midst  of  the 
systems  which  they  overthrow.  Hezekiah  came  to  a 
tottering  throne  and  an  all  but  beggared  nation,  ringed 
around  by  triumphant  enemies.  His  brave  young  heart 
did  not  quail.  He  sought  'first  the  kingdom  of  God, 
and  His  righteousness,'  and  of  the  two  pressing  needs 
for  Judah,  political  peace  and  religious  purity,  he  began 
with  the  last.  The  Book  of  Kings  tells  at  most  length 
the  civil  history ;  the  Book  of  Chronicles,  as  usual,  lays 
most  stress  on  the  ecclesiastical.  The  two  complete 
each  other.  The  present  passage  gives  a  beautiful 
picture  of  the  vigorous,  devout  young  king  setting 
about  the  work  of  reformation. 

We  may  note,  first,  his  prompt  action.  Joash  had 
to  whip  up  the  reluctant  priests  with  his  '  See  that  ye 
hasten  the  matter ! '  Hezekiah  lets  no  grass  grow  under 
his  feet,  but  begins  his  reforms  with  his  reign.  'The 
first  month'  (ver.  3)  possibly,  indeed,  means  the  first 
month  of  the  calendar,  not  of  Hezekiah,  who  may  have 
come  to  the  throne  in  the  later  part  of  the  Jewish  year; 
but,  in  any  case,  no  time  was  lost.  The  statement  in 
verse  3  may  be  taken  as  a  general  r4su'm4  of  what 
follows  in  detail,  but  this  vigorous  speech  to  the  priests 
was  clearly  among  the  new  king's  first  acts.  No  doubt 
his  purpose  had  slowly  grown  while  his  father  was 
affronting  Heaven  with  his  mania  for  idols.  Such 
decisive,  swift  action  does  not  come  without  pro- 
tracted, previous  brooding.  The  hidden  fires  gather 
slowly  in  the  silent  crater,  however  rapidly  they  burst 
out  at  last. 

We  can  never  begin  good  things  too  early,  and  when 


vs.  1-11]     A  GODLY  REFORMATION  227 

we  come  into  new  positions,  it  is  always  prudence  as 
well  as  bravery  to  show  our  colours  unmistakably  from 
the  first.  Many  a  young  man,  launched  among  fresh 
associations,  has  been  ruined  because  of  beginning  with 
temporising  timidity.  It  is  easier  to  take  the  right 
standing  at  first  than  to  shift  to  it  afterwards.  Heze- 
kiah  might  have  been  excused  if  he  had  thought  that 
the  wretched  state  of  political  affairs  left  by  Ahaz 
needed  his  first  attention.  Edomites  on  the  east,  Philis- 
tines on  the  west  and  south,  Syrians  and  Assyrians  on 
the  north,  '  compassed  him  about  like  bees,'  and  worldly 
prudence  would  have  said,  'Look  after  these  enemies 
to-day,  and  the  Temple  to-morrow.'  He  was  wiser  than 
that,  knowing  that  these  were  effects  of  the  religious 
corruption,  and  so  he  went  at  that  first.  It  is  useless 
trying  to  mend  a  nation's  fortunes  unless  you  mend  its 
morals  and  religion. 

And  there  are  some  things  which  are  best  done 
quickly,  both  in  individual  and  national  life.  Leaving 
off  bad  habits  by  degrees  is  not  hopeful.  The  only 
thing  to  be  done  is  to  break  with  them  utterly  and  at 
once.  One  strong,  swift  blow,  right  through  the  heart, 
kills  the  wild  beast.  Slighter  cuts  may  make  him  bleed 
to  death,  but  he  may  kill  you  first.  The  existing  state 
was  undeniably  sinful.  There  was  no  need  for  delibera- 
tion as  to  that.  Therefore  there  was  no  reason  for 
delay.  Let  us  learn  the  lesson  that,  where  conscience 
has  no  doubts,  we  should  have  no  dawdling.  '  I  made 
haste,  and  delayed  not  to  keep  thy  commandment.' 

Note,  too,  in  Hezekiah's  speech,  the  true  order  of 
religious  reformation.  The  priests  and  Levites  were 
not  foremost  in  it,  as  indeed  is  only  too  often  the  case 
with  ecclesiastics  in  all  ages.  Probably  many  of  them 
had  been  content  to  serve  Ahaz  as  priests  of  his  multi- 


228  SECOND  BOOK  Ol?  CHRONICLES  [xxix. 

form  idolatry.  At  all  events,  they  needed  *  sanctifying,' 
though  no  doubt  the  word  is  here  used  in  reference 
to  merely  ceremonial  uncleanness.  Still  the  require- 
ment that  they  should  cleanse  themselves  before  they 
cleansed  the  Temple  has  more  than  ceremonial  signifi- 
cance. Impure  hands  are  not  fit  for  the  work  of 
religious  reformation,  though  they  have  often  been 
employed  in  it.  What  was  the  weakness  of  the  Re- 
formation but  that  the  passions  of  princes  and  nobles 
were  so  soon  and  generally  enlisted  for  it,  and  marred 
it?  He  that  enters  into  the  holy  place,  especially  if 
his  errand  be  to  cleanse  it,  must  have  'clean  hands, 
and  a  pure  heart.'  The  hands  that  wielded  the  whip 
of  small  cords,  and  drove  out  the  money-changers, 
were  stainless,  and  therefore  strong.  Some  of  us  are 
very  fond  of  trying  to  set  churches  to  rights.  Let 
us  begin  with  ourselves,  lest,  like  careless  servants, 
we  leave  dirty  finger-marks  where  we  have  been 
•  cleaning.' 

The  next  point  in  the  speech  is  the  profound  and 
painful  sense  of  existing  corruption.  Note  the  long- 
drawn-out  enumeration  of  evils  in  verses  6  and  7, 
starting  with  the  general  recognition  of  the  fathers' 
trespass,  advancing  to  the  more  specific  sin  of  for- 
saking Him  and  His  house,  and  dwelling,  finally,  as 
with  fascinated  horror,  on  all  the  details  of  closed 
shrine  and  quenched  lamps  and  cold  altars.  The  his- 
torical truth  of  the  picture  is  confirmed  by  the  close 
of  the  previous  chapter,  and  its  vividness  shows  how 
deeply  Hezekiah  had  felt  the  shame  and  sin  of  Ahaz, 
It  is  not  easy  to  keep  clear  of  the  influence  of  prevail- 
ing corruptions  of  religion.  Familiarity  weakens  ab- 
horrence, and  the  stained  embodiments  of  the  ideal 
hide  its  purity  from  most  eyes.     But  no  man  will  be 


vs.  1-11]     A  GODLY  REFORMATION  229 

God's  instrument  to  make  society,  the  church,  or  the 
home,  better,  unless  he  feels  keenly  the  existing  evils. 
We  do  not  need  to  cherish  a  censorious  spirit,  but  we 
do  need  to  guard  against  an  unthinking  acquiescence 
in  the  present  state  of  things,  and  a  self-complacent 
reluctance  to  admit  their  departure  from  the  divine 
purpose  for  the  church.  There  is  need  to-day  for  a  like 
profound  consciousness  of  evil,  and  like  efforts  after 
nevr  purity.  If  we  individually  lived  nearer  God,  we 
should  be  less  acclimatised  to  the  Church's  imperfec- 
tions. No  doubt  Hezekiah's  clear  sight  of  the  sinfulness 
of  the  idolatry  so  universal  round  him  was  largely 
owing  to  Isaiah's  influence.  Eyes  which  have  caught 
sight  of  the  true  King  of  Israel,  and  of  the  pure  light 
of  His  kingdom,  will  be  purged  to  discern  the  sore  need 
for  purifying  the  Lord's  house. 

The  clear  insight  into  the  national  sin  gives  as  clear 
understanding  of  the  national  suffering.  Hezekiah 
speaks,  in  verses  8  and  9,  as  the  Law  and  the  Prophets 
had  been  speaking  for  centuries,  and  as  God's  provi- 
dence had  been  uttering  in  act  all  through  the  national 
history.  But  so  slow  are  men  to  learn  familiar  truths 
that  Ahaz  had  grasped  at  idol  after  idol  to  rescue  him ; 
•  but  they  were  the  ruin  of  him,  and  of  all  Israel.'  Hov/ 
difficult  it  is  to  hammer  plain  truths,  even  with  the 
mallet  of  troubles,  into  men's  heads !  How  blind  we 
all  are  to  the  causal  connection  between  sin  and  sorrow ! 
Hezekiah  saw  the  iron  link  uniting  them,  and  his 
whole  policy  was  based  upon  that  'wherefore.'  Of 
course,  if  we  accept  the  Biblical  statements  as  to  the 
divine  dealing  with  Israel  and  Judah,  obedience  and 
disobedience  were  there  followed  by  reward  and  suffer- 
ing more  certainly  and  directly  than  is  now  the  case  in 
either  national  or  individual  life.    But  it  still  remains 


230  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxix. 

true  that  it  is  a  'bitter'  as  well  as  an  'evil'  thing  to 
depart  from  the  living  God.  If  we  would  find  the 
cause  of  our  own  or  of  a  nation's  sorrows,  we  had 
better  begin  our  search  among  our  or  its  sins. 

That  phrase  '  an  astonishment,  and  an  hissing '  (ver.  8) 
is  new.  It  appears  for  the  first  time  in  Micah  (Mieah  vi. 
16),  and  he,  we  know,  exercised  influence  on  Hezekiah 
(Jer.  xxvi.  18, 19).  Perhaps  the  king  is  here  quoting  the 
prophet. 

The  exposition  of  the  sin  and  its  fruit  is  followed  by 
the  king's  resolve  for  himself,  and,  so  far  as  may  be, 
for  his  people.  The  phrase  'it  is  in  my  heart'  ex- 
presses fixed  determination,  not  mere  wish.  It  is  used 
by  David  and  of  him,  in  reference  to  his  resolve  to 
build  the  Temple.  'To  make  a  covenant'  probably 
means  to  renew  the  covenant,  made  long  ago  at  Sinai, 
but  broken  by  sin.  The  king  has  made  up  his  mind, 
and  announces  his  determination.  He  does  not  consult 
priests  or  people,  but  expects  their  acquiescence.  So, 
in  the  early  days  of  Christianity,  the  '  conversion '  of  a 
king  meant  that  of  his  people.  Of  course,  the  power 
of  the  kings  of  Israel  and  Judah  to  change  the  national 
religion  at  their  pleasure  shows  how  slightly  any 
religion  had  penetrated,  and  how  much,  at  the  best,  it 
was  a  matter  of  mere  ceremonial  worship  with  the 
masses.  People  who  worshipped  Ahaz's  rabble  of  gods 
and  godlings  to-day  because  he  bade  them,  and  Heze- 
kiah's  God  to-morrow,  had  little  worship  for  either,  and 
were  much  the  same  through  all  changes. 

Hezekiah  was  in  earnest,  and  his  resolve  was  none 
the  less  right  because  it  was  moved  by  a  desire  to  turn 
away  the  fierce  anger  of  the  Lord.  Dread  of  sin's 
consequences  and  a  desire  to  escape  these  is  no  un- 
worthy motive,  however  some  superfine  moralists  now- 


vs.  Ml]    A  GODLY  REFORMATION  231 

adays  may  call  it  so.  It  is  becoming  unfashionable 
to  preach  'the  terror  of  the  Lord.'  The  more  is  the 
pity,  and  the  less  is  the  likelihood  of  persuading  men. 
But,  however  kindled,  the  firm  determination  (which 
does  not  wait  for  others  to  concur)  that  '  As  for  me,  I 
will  serve  the  Lord,'  is  the  grand  thing  for  us  all  to 
imitate.  That  strong  young  heart  showed  itself  kingly 
in  its  resolve,  as  it  had  shown  itself  sensitive  to  evil 
and  tender  in  contemplating  the  widespread  sorrow. 
If  we  would  brace  our  feeble  wills,  and  screw  them  to 
the  sticking-point  of  immovable  determination  to  make 
a  covenant  with  God,  let  us  meditate  on  our  departures 
from  Him,  the  Lover  and  Benefactor  of  our  souls,  and 
on  the  dreadf  ulness  of  His  anger  and  the  misery  of 
those  who  forsake  Him. 

Once  more  the  king  turns  to  the  priests.  He  began 
and  he  finishes  with  them,  as  if  he  were  not  sure  of 
their  reliableness.  His  tone  is  kindly,  'My  sons,'  but 
yet  monitory.  They  would  not  have  been  warned 
against  '  negligence '  unless  they  had  obviously  needed 
it,  nor  would  they  have  been  stimulated  to  their  duties 
by  reminding  them  of  their  prerogatives,  unless  they 
had  been  apt  to  slight  these.  Officials,  whose  business 
is  concerned  with  the  things  of  God,  are  often  apt  to 
drop  into  an  easy-going  pace.  Negligent  work  may 
suit  unimportant  offices,  but  is  hideously  inconsistent 
with  the  tasks  and  aims  of  God's  servants.  If  there  is 
any  work  which  has  to  be  done  'with  both  hands, 
earnestly,'  it  is  theirs.  Unless  we  put  all  our  strength 
into  it,  we  shall  get  no  good  for  ourselves  or  others  out 
of  it.  The  utmost  tension  of  all  powers,  the  utmost 
husbanding  of  every  moment,  is  absolutely  demanded 
by  the  greatness  of  the  task;  and  the  voice  of  the 
great  Master  says  to  all  His  servants,   'My  sons,  be 


232  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxix. 

not  now  negligent.'    Ungirt  loins  and  unlit  lamps  are 
fatal. 

We  should  meditate,  too,  on  the  prerogatives  and 
lofty  oflSces  to  which  Christ  calls  those  who  love  Him ; 
not  to  minister  to  self-complacency,  as  if  we  were  so 
much  better  than  other  men,  but  to  deepen  our  sense 
of  responsibility,  and  stir  us  to  strenuous  efforts  to  be 
what  we  are  called  to  be.  If  Christian  people  thought 
more  earnestly  on  what  Jesus  Christ  means  them  to  be 
to  the  world,  they  would  not  so  often  counterwork  His 
purpose  and  shirk  their  own  duties.  Crowns  are  heavy 
to  wear.  Gifts  are  calls  to  service.  If  we  are  chosen  to 
be  His  ministers,  we  have  solemn  responsibilities.  If 
we  are  to  burn  incense  before  Him,  our  censers  need  to 
be  bright  and  free  from  strange  fire.  If  we  are  the 
lights  of  the  world,  our  business  is  to  shine. 

SACRIFICE  RENEWED 

'Then  they  went  in  to  Hezekiah  the  king,  and  said,  We  have  cleansed  all  the 
house  of  the  Lord,  and  the  altar  of  burnt-offering,  with  all  the  vessels  thereof,  and 
the  shew-bread  table,  with  all  the  vessels  thereof.  19.  Moreover,  all  the  vessels, 
which  king  Ahaz  in  his  reign  did  cast  away  in  his  transgression,  have  we  pre- 
pared and  sanctified,  and,  behold,  they  are  before  the  altar  of  the  Lord.  20. 
Then  Hezekiah  the  king  rose  early,  and  gathered  the  rulers  of  the  city,  and  went 
np  to  the  house  of  the  Lord.  21.  And  they  brought  seven  bullocks,  and  seven 
rams,  and  seven  lambs,  and  seven  he  goats,  for  a  sin-offering  for  the  kingdom, 
and  for  the  sanctuary,  and  for  Judah.  And  he  commanded  the  priests,  the  sons  of 
Aaron,  to  offer  them  on  the  altar  of  the  Lord.  22.  So  they  killed  the  bullocks,  and 
the  priests  received  the  blood,  and  sprinkled  it  on  the  altar :  likewise,  when 
they  had  killed  the  rams,  they  sprinkled  the  blood  upon  the  altar :  they  killed 
also  the  lambs,  and  they  sprinkled  the  blood  upon  the  altar.  23.  And  they  brought 
forth  the  he  goats  for  the  sin-offering  before  the  king  and  the  congregation ; 
and  they  laid  their  hands  upon  them.  24.  And  the  priests  killed  them,  and  they 
made  reconciliation  with  their  blood  upon  the  altar,  to  make  an  atonement  for 
all  Israel :  for  the  king  commanded  that  the  burnt-offering  and  the  sin-offering 
should  be  made  for  all  Israel.  25.  And  he  set  the  Levites  in  the  house  of  the 
Lord  with  cymbals,  with  psalteries,  and  with  harps,  according  to  the  command- 
ment of  David,  and  of  Gad  the  king's  seer,  and  Nathan  the  prophet :  for  so  was 
the  commandment  of  the  Lord  by  His  prophets.  26.  And  the  Levites  stood  with 
the  instruments  of  David,  and  the  priests  with  the  trumpets.  27.  And  Hezekiah 
commanded  to  offer  the  burnt-offering  upon  the  altar.  And  when  the  burnt- 
offering  began,  the  song  of  the  Lord  began  also  with  the  trumpets,  and  with  the 
instruments  ordained  by  David  king  of  Israel.  28.  And  all  the  congregation 
worshipped,  and  the  singers  sang,  and  the  trumpeters  sounded :  and  all  this  con- 
tinued until  the  burnt-offering  was  finished,    29.  And  when  they  had  made  an  end 


vs.  18-31]        SACRIFICE  RENEWED  233 

of  offering,  the  king  and  all  that  were  present  with  him  bowed  themselves, 
and  worshipped.  30.  Moreover,  Hezekiah  the  king  and  the  princes  com- 
manded the  Levites  to  sing  praises  unto  the  Lord  with  the  words  of  David,  and 
of  Asaph  the  seer.  And  they  sang  praises  with  gladness,  and  they  bowed 
their  heads  and  worshipped.  31.  Then  Hezekiah  answered  and  said.  Now  ye 
have  consecrated  yourselves  unto  the  Lord,  come  near,  and  bring  sacrifices  and 
thank-offerings  into  the  house  of  the  Lord.  And  the  congregation  brought  in 
sacrifices  and  thank-offerings ;  and  as  many  as  were  of  a  free  heart  burnt  offerings. 
—2  Chkon.  xxix.  18-31. 

Ahaz,  Hezekiah's  father,  had  wallowed  in  idolatry, 
worshipping  any  and  every  god  but  Jehovah.  He  had 
shut  up  the  Temple,  defiled  the  sacred  vessels,  and 
'  made  him  altars  in  every  corner  of  Jerusalem.'  And 
the  result  was  that  he  brought  the  kingdom  very  near 
ruin,  was  not  allowed  to  be  buried  in  the  tombs  of  the 
kings,  and  left  his  son  a  heavy  task  to  patch  up  the 
mischief  he  had  wrought.  Hezekiah  began  at  the  right 
end  of  his  task.  *  In  the  first  year  of  his  reign,  in  the 
first  month,'  he  set  about  restoring  the  worship  of 
Jehovah.  The  relations  with  Syria  and  Damascus 
would  come  right  if  the  relations  with  Judah's  God 
were  right.  '  First  things  first '  was  his  motto,  and  per- 
haps he  discerned  the  true  sequence  more  accurately 
than  some  great  political  pundits  do  nowadays.  So 
neglected  had  the  Temple  been  that  a  strong  force  of 
priests  and  Levites  took  a  fortnight  to  '  carry  forth  the 
filthiness  out  of  the  holy  place  to  the  brook  Kidron,' 
and  to  cleanse  and  ceremonially  sanctify  the  sacred 
vessels.  Then  followed  at  once  the  re-establishment 
of  the  Temple  worship,  which  is  narrated  in  the 
passage. 

The  first  thing  to  be  noted  is  that  the  whole  move- 
ment back  to  Jehovah  was  a  one-man  movement.  It 
was  Hezekiah's  doing  and  his  only.  No  priest  is  named 
as  prominent  in  it,  and  the  slowness  of  the  whole  order 
is  especially  branded  in  verse  34.  No  prophet  is  named; 
was  there    any   one    prompting  the  king?     Perhaps 


234  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxix. 

Isaiah  did,  though  his  chapter  i.,  with  its  scathing 
repudiation  of  '  the  burnt  offerings  of  rams  and  the  fat 
of  fed  beasts,'  suggests  that  he  did  not  think  the  re- 
storation of  sacrifice  so  important  as  that  the  nation 
should  'cease  to  do  evil  and  learn  to  do  well.'  The 
people  acquiesced  in  the  king's  worship  of  Jehovah,  as 
they  had  acquiesced  in  other  kings'  worship  of  Baal  or 
Moloch  or  Hadad.  When  kings  take  to  being  religious 
reformers,  they  make  swift  converts,  but  their  work  is 
as  slight  as  it  is  speedy,  and  as  short-lived  as  it  is  rapid. 
Manasseh  was  Hezekiah's  successor,  and  swept  away 
all  his  work  after  twenty-nine  years,  and  apparently 
the  mass  of  his  people  followed  him  just  as  they  had 
followed  Hezekiah.  Religion  must  be  a  matter  of  per- 
sonal conviction  and  individual  choice.  Imposed  from 
without,  or  adopted  because  other  people  adopt  it,  it 
is  worthless. 

Another  point  to  notice  is  that  Hezekiah's  reforma- 
tion was  mainly  directed  to  ritual,  and  does  not  seem 
to  have  included  either  theology  or  ethics.  Was  he 
quite  right  in  his  estimate  of  what  was  the  first  thing  ? 
Isaiah,  in  the  passage  already  referred  to,  does  not 
seem  to  think  so.  To  him,  as  to  all  the  prophets,  foul 
hands  could  not  bring  acceptable  sacrifices,  and  worship 
was  an  abomination  unless  preceded  by  obedience  to 
the  command  :  '  Put  away  the  evil  of  your  doings  from 
before  Mine  eyes.'  The  filth  in  the  hearts  of  the  men 
of  Judah  was  more  *  rank,  and  smelt  to  heaven '  more 
offensively,  than  that  in  the  Temple,  which  took  six- 
teen days  to  shovel  into  Kidron.  No  doubt  ceremonial 
bulked  more  largely  in  the  days  of  the  Old  Covenant 
than  it  does  in  those  of  the  New,  and  both  the  then 
stage  of  revelation  and  the  then  spiritual  stature  of  the 
recipients  of  revelation  required  that  it  should  do  so. 


VS.18  31]        SACRIFICE  RENEWED  235 

But  the  true  religious  reformers,  the  prophets,  were 
never  weary  of  insisting  that,  even  in  those  days,  moral 
and  spiritual  reformation  should  come  first,  and  that 
unless  it  did,  ritual  worship,  though  it  were  nominally 
offered  to  Jehovah,  was  as  abhorrent  to  Him  as  if 
it  had  been  avowedly  offered  to  Baal.  Not  a  little  so- 
called  Christian  worship  to-day,  judged  by  the  same 
test,  is  as  truly  heathen  superstition  as  if  it  had  been 
paid  to  Mumbo-Jumbo. 

But  when  all  deductions  have  been  made,  the  scene 
depicted  in  the  passage  is  not  only  an  affecting,  but 
an  instructive  one.  Strangely  unlike  our  notions  of 
worship,  and  to  us  almost  repulsive,  must  have  been 
the  slaying  of  three  hundred  and  seventy  animals  and 
the  offering  of  them  as  burnt  offerings.  Try  to  picture 
the  rivers  of  blood,  the  contortions  of  the  dumb  brutes, 
the  priests  bedaubed  with  gore,  the  smell  of  the  burnt 
flesh,  the  blare  of  the  trumpets,  the  shouts  of  the 
worshippers,  the  clashing  cymbals,  and  realise  what 
a  world  parts  it  from  'They  went  up  into  the  upper 
chamber  where  they  were  abiding  .  . .  these  all  with 
one  accord  continued  steadfastly  in  prayer,  with  the 
women,  and  Mary,  the  mother  of  Jesus,  and  with  His 
brethren '  I  Sacrifice  has  been  the  essential  feature  in 
all  religions  before  Christ.  It  has  dropped  out  of 
worship  wherever  Christ  has  been  accepted.  Why? 
Because  it  spoke  of  a  deep,  permanent,  universal  need, 
and  because  Christ  was  recognised  as  having  met  the 
need.  People  who  deny  the  need,  and  people  who  deny 
that  Jesus  on  the  Cross  has  satisfied  it,  may  be  in- 
vited to  explain  these  two  facts,  written  large  on 
the  history  of  humanity. 

That  brings  us  to  the  most  important  aspect  of  Heze- 
kiah's  great  sacrifice.    It  sets  forth  the  stages  by  which 


236  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxix. 

men  can  approach  to  God.  It  is  symbolic  of  spiritual 
facts,  and  prophetic  of  Christ's  work  and  of  our  way 
of  coming  to  God  through  Him.  The  first  requisite  for 
Judah's  return  to  Jehovah,  whom  they  had  forsaken, 
was  the  presentation  of  a  '  sin  offering.'  The  king  and 
the  congregation  laid  their  hands  on  the  heads  of  the 
goats,  thereby,  as  it  were,  transferring  their  own  sinful 
personality  to  them.  Thus  laden  with  the  nation's  sins, 
they  were  slain,  and  in  their  death  the  nation,  as  it 
were,  bore  the  penalty  of  its  sin.  Representation  and 
substitution  were  dramatised  in  the  sacrifice.  The 
blood  sprinkled  on  the  altar  (which  had  previously 
been  •  sanctified '  by  sprinkling  of  blood,  and  so  made 
capable  of  presenting  what  touched  it  to  Jehovah), 
made  '  atonement  for  all  Israel.'  We  note  in  passing 
the  emphasis  of  '  Israel '  here,  extending  the  benefit  of 
the  sacrifice  to  the  separated  tribes  of  the  Northern 
Kingdom,  in  a  gush  of  yearning  love  and  desire  that 
they,  too,  might  be  reconciled  to  Jehovah.  And  is  not 
this  the  first  step  towards  any  man's  reconciliation 
with  God  ?    Is  not 

•  My  faith  would  lay  her  hand 
On  that  dear  head  of  Thine,' 

the  true  expression  of  the  first  requisite  for  us  all? 
Jesus  is  the  sin-offering  for  the  world.  In  His  death 
He  bears  the  world's  sin.  His  blood  is  presented  to 
God,  and  if  we  have  associated  ourselves  with  Him  by 
faith,  that  blood  sprinkled  on  the  altar  covers  all 
our  sins. 

Then  followed  in  this  parabolic  ceremonial  the  burnt 
offering.  And  that  is  the  second  stage  of  our  return 
to  God,  for  it  expresses  the  consecration  of  our  for- 
given selves,  as  being  consumed  by  the  holy  and  blessed 


V8.18-31]        SACRIFICE  RENEWED  237 

fire  of  a  self-devotion,  kindled  by  the  *  unspeakable 
gift,'  which  fire,  burning  away  all  foulness,  will  make 
us  tenfold  ovirselves.  That  fire  will  burn  up  only  our 
bonds,  and  we  shall  walk  at  liberty  in  it.  And  that 
burnt-offering  will  always  be  accompanied  with  '  the 
song  of  Jehovah,'  and  the  joyful  sound  of  the  trumpets 
and  'the  instruments  of  David.'  The  treasures  of 
Christian  poetry  have  always  been  inspired  by  the 
Cross,  and  the  consequent  rapture  of  self-surrender. 
Calvary  is  the  true  fountain  of  song. 

The  last  stage  in  Hezekiah's  great  sacrifice  was 
'  thank-offerings,'  brought  by  *  as  many  as  were  of  a 
willing  heart.'  And  will  not  the  self-devotion,  kindled 
by  the  fire  of  love,  speak  in  daily  life  by  practical 
service,  and  the  whole  activities  of  the  redeemed  man 
be  a  long  thank-offering  for  the  Lamb  who  '  bears  away 
the  sins  of  the  world'?  And  if  we  do  not  thus  offer 
our  whole  lives  to  God,  how  shall  we  profess  to  have 
taken  the  priceless  benefit  of  Christ's  death?  Hezekiah 
followed  the  order  laid  down  in  the  Law,  and  it  is  the 
only  order  that  leads  to  the  goal.  First,  the  atoning 
sacrifice  of  the  slain  Lamb;  next,  our  identification 
with  Him  and  it  by  faith  ;  then  the  burnt-offering  of 
a  surrendered  self,  with  the  song  of  praise  sounding 
ever  through  it ;  and  last,  the  life  of  service,  offering 
all  our  works  to  God,  and  so  reaching  the  perfec- 
tion of  life  on  earth  and  antedating  the  felicities  of 
heaven. 


A  LOVING  CALL  TO  REUNION 

•And  Hezekiah  sent  to  all  Israel  and  Judah,  and  wrote  letters  also  to  Ephraim 
and  Manasseh,  that  they  should  come  to  the  house  of  the  Lord  at  Jerusalem,  to 
keep  the  passover  unto  the  Lord  God  of  Israel.  2.  For  the  king  had  taken  counsel, 
and  his  princes,  and  all  the  congregation  in  Jerusalem,  to  keep  the  passover  in  the 
second  month.  3.  For  they  could  not  keep  it  at  that  time,  because  the  priests  had 
not  sanctified  themselves  sufficiently,  neither  had  the  people  gathered  themselves 
together  to  Jerusalem.  4.  And  the  thing  pleased  the  king  and  all  the  congregation. 
5.  So  they  established  a  decree  to  make  proclamation  throughout  all  Israel,  from 
Beer-sheha  even  to  Dan,  that  they  should  come  to  keep  the  passover  unto  the 
Lord  God  of  Israel  at  Jerusalem :  for  they  had  not  done  it  of  a  long  time  in  such 
sort  as  it  was  written.  6.  So  the  posts  went  with  the  letters  from  the  king  and  his 
princes  throughout  all  Israel  and  Judah,  and  according  to  the  commandment  of 
the  king,  saying,  Ye  children  of  Israel,  turn  again  unto  the  Lord  God  of  Abraham, 
Isaac,  and  Israel,  and  he  will  return  to  the  remnant  of  you,  that  are  escaped  out  of 
the  hand  of  the  kings  of  Assjrria.  7.  And  be  not  ye  like  your  fathers,  and  like  your 
brethren,  which  trespassed  against  the  Lord  God  of  their  fathers,  who  therefore 
gave  them  up  to  desolation,  as  ye  see.  8.  Now,  be  ye  not  stifihecked,  as  your 
fathers  were,  but  yield  yourselves  unto  the  Lord,  and  enter  into  His  sanctuary, 
which  He  hath  sanctified  for  ever :  and  serve  the  Lord  your  God,  that  the  fierce- 
ness of  His  wrath  may  turn  away  from  you.  9.  For  if  ye  turn  again  unto  the  Lord, 
your  brethren  and  your  children  shall  find  compassion  before  them  that  lead  them 
captive,  so  that  they  shall  come  again  into  this  land:  for  the  Lord  your  God  is 
gracious  and  merciful,  and  will  not  turn  away  His  face  from  you,  if  ye  return  unto 
Him.  10.  So  the  posts  passed  from  city  to  city  through  the  country  of  Ephraim 
and  Manasseh,  even  unto  Zebulun :  but  they  laughed  them  to  scorn,  and  mocked 
them.  11.  Nevertheless  divers  of  Asher  and  Manasseh  and  of  Zebulun  humbled 
themselves,  and  came  to  Jerusalem.  12.  Also  in  Judah  the  hand  of  God  was  to 
give  them  one  heart  to  do  the  commandment  of  the  king  and  of  the  princes,  by 
the  word  of  the  Lord.  13.  And  there  assembled  at  Jerusalem  much  people  to  keep 
the  feast  of  unleavened  bread  in  the  second  month,  a  very  great  congregation.'— 
2  Chron.  XXX.  1-13. 

The  date  of  Hezekiah's  passover  is  uncertain,  for,  while 
the  immediate  connection  of  this  narrative  with  the 
preceding  account  of  his  cleansing  the  Temple  and 
restoring  the  sacrificial  worship  suggests  that  the  pass- 
over  followed  directly  on  those  events,  which  took 
place  at  the  beginning  of  the  reign,  the  language  em- 
ployed in  the  message  to  the  northern  tribes  (vers.  6, 7, 9) 
seems  to  imply  the  previous  fall  of  the  kingdom  of 
Israel.  If  so,  this  passover  did  not  occur  till  after 
721  B.C.,  the  date  of  the  capture  of  Samaria,  six  years 
after  Hezekiah's  accession. 
The  sending  of  messengers  from  Jerusalem  on  such 

SS8 


vs.1-13]    A  LOVING  CALL  TO  REUNION   239 

an  errand  would  scarcely  have  been  possible  if  the 
northern  kingdom  had  still  been  independent.  Perhaps 
its  fall  was  thought  by  Hezekiah  to  open  the  door  to 
drawing  *  the  remnant  that  were  escaped '  back  to  the 
ancient  unity  of  worship,  at  all  events,  if  not  of  polity. 
No  doubt  a  large  number  had  been  left  in  the  northern 
territory,  and  Hezekiah  may  have  hoped  that  calamity 
had  softened  their  enmity  to  his  kingdom,  and  perhaps 
touched  them  with  longings  for  the  old  worship.  At 
all  events,  like  a  good  man,  he  will  stretch  out  a  hand 
to  the  alienated  brethren,  now  that  evil  days  have 
fallen  on  them.  The  hour  of  an  enemy's  calamity 
should  be  our  opportunity  for  seeking  to  help  and 
proffering  reconciliation.  We  may  find  that  trouble 
inclines  wanderers  to  come  back  to  God. 

The  alteration  of  the  time  of  keeping  the  passover 
from  the  thirteenth  day  of  the  first  month  to  the  same 
day  of  the  second  was  in  accordance  with  the  liberty 
granted  in  Numbers  ix.  10,  11,  to  persons  unclean  by 
contact  with  a  dead  body  or  'in  a  journey  afar  off.' 
The  decision  to  have  the  passover  was  not  taken  in 
time  to  allow  of  the  necessary  removal  of  uncleanness 
from  the  priests  nor  of  the  assembling  of  the  people, 
and  therefore  the  permission  to  defer  it  for  a  month 
was  taken  advantage  of,  in  order  to  allow  full  time  for 
the  despatch  of  the  messengers  and  the  journeys  of  the 
farthest  northern  tribes.  It  is  to  be  observed  that 
Hezekiah  took  his  subjects  into  counsel,  since  the  step 
intended  w^as  much  too  great  for  him  to  venture  on  of 
his  own  mere  motion.  So  the  overtures  went  out 
clothed  with  the  authority  of  the  whole  kingdom  of 
Judah.  It  was  the  voice  of  a  nation  that  sought  to 
woo  back  the  secessionists. 

The  messengers  were  instructed  to  supplement  the 


240  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxx. 

official  letters  of  invitation  with  earnest  entreaties  as 
from  the  king,  of  which  the  gist  is  given  in  verses  6-9. 
With  the  skill  born  of  intense  desire  to  draw  the  long- 
parted  kingdoms  together,  the  message  touches  on 
ancestral  memories,  recent  bitter  experiences,  yearnings 
for  the  captive  kinsfolk,  the  instinct  of  self-preserva- 
tion, and  rises  at  last  into  the  clear  light  of  full  faith 
i^  and  insight  into,  God's  infinite  heart  of  pardoning 
pity. 

Note  the  very  first  words,  '  Ye  children  of  Israel,'  and 
consider  the  effect  of  this  frank  recognition  of  the 
northern  kingdom  as  part  of  the  undivided  Israel. 
Such  recognition  might  have  been  misunderstood  or 
spurned  when  Samaria  was  gay  and  prosperous;  but 
when  its  palaces  were  desolate,  the  effect  of  the  old 
name,  recalling  happier  days,  must  have  been  as  if  the 
elder  brother  had  come  out  from  the  father's  house  and 
entreated  the  prodigal  to  come  back  to  his  place  at  the 
fireside.  The  battle  would  be  more  than  half  won  if 
the  appeal  that  was  couched  in  the  very  name  of  Israel 
was  heeded. 

Note  further  how  firmly  and  yet  lovingly  the  sin  of 
the  northern  kingdom  is  touched  on.  The  name  of 
Jehovah  as  the  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Israel, 
recalls  the  ancient  days  when  the  undivided  people 
worshipped  Him,  and  the  still  more  ancient,  and,  to 
hearers  and  speakers  alike,  more  sacred,  days  when  the 
patriarchs  received  wondrous  tokens  that  He  was  their 
God,  and  they  were  His  people ;  while  the  recurrence 
of  'Israel'  as  the  name  of  Jacob  adds  force  to  its 
previous  use  as  the  name  of  all  His  descendants.  The 
possible  rejection  of  the  invitation,  on  the  ground 
which  the  men  of  the  north,  like  the  Samaritan  woman, 
might  have  taken,  that  they  were  true  to  their  fathers' 


V8.1-13]   A  LOVING  CALL  TO  REUNION   241 

worship,  is  cut  away  by  the  reminder  that  that  worship 
was  an  innovation,  since  the  fathers  of  the  present 
generation  had  been  apostate  from  the  God  of  their 
fathers.  The  appeal  to  antiquity  often  lands  men  in  a 
bog  because  it  is  not  carried  far  enough  back.  '  The 
fathers '  may  lead  astray,  but  if  the  antiquity  to  which 
we  appeal  is  that  of  which  the  New  Testament  is  the 
record,  the  more  conservative  we  are,  the  nearer  the 
truth  shall  we  be. 

Again,  the  message  touched  on  a  chord  that  might 
easily  have  given  a  jarring  note ;  namely,  the  misfor- 
tunes of  the  kingdom.  But  it  was  done  with  so  delicate 
a  hand,  and  so  entirely  without  a  trace  of  rejoicing  in  a 
neighbour's  calamities,  that  no  susceptibilities  could  be 
ruffled,  while  yet  the  solemn  lesson  is  unfalteringly 
pointed.  *He  gave  them  up  to  desolation,  as  ye  see.' 
Behind  Assyria  was  Jehovah,  and  Israel's  fall  was  not 
wholly  explained  by  the  disparity  between  its  strength 
and  the  conquerors'.  Under  and  through  the  play  of 
criminal  ambition,  cruelty,  and  earthly  politics,  the 
unseen  Hand  wrought ;  and  the  teaching  of  all  the  Old 
Testament  history  is  condensed  into  that  one  sad  sen- 
tence, which  points  to  facts  as  plain  as  tragical.  In 
deepest  truth  it  applies  to  each  of  us ;  for,  if  we  tres- 
pass against  God,  we  draw  down  evil  on  our  heads  with 
both  hands,  and  shall  find  that  sin  brings  the  worst 
desolation — that  which  sheds  gloom  over  a  godless 
soul. 

We  note  further  the  deep  true  insight  into  God's 
character  and  ways  expressed  in  this  message.  There 
is  a  very  striking  variation  in  the  three  designations  of 
Jehovah  as  *  the  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Israel ' 
(ver.  6),  '  the  god  of  their  [that  is,  the  preceding  genera- 
tion] fathers '  (ver.  7),  and  '  your  God '  (ver.  8).  The  relation 

Q 


242  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxx. 

which  had  subsisted  from  of  old  had  not  been  broken 
by  man's  apostasy.  Jehovah  still  was,  in  a  true  sense, 
their  God,  even  if  His  relation  to  them  only  bound  Him 
not  to  leave  them  unpunished.  So  their  very  sufferings 
proved  them  His,  for  '  What  son  is  he  whom  the  father 
chasteneth  not  ? '  But  strong,  sunny  confidence  in  God 
shines  from  the  whole  message,  and  reaches  its  climax 
in  the  closing  assurance  that  He  is  merciful  and 
gracious.  The  evil  results  of  rebellion  are  not  omitted, 
but  they  are  not  dwelt  on.  The  true  magnet  to  draw 
wanderers  back  to  God  is  the  loving  proclamation  of 
His  love.  Unless  we  are  sure  that  He  has  a  heart 
tender  with  all  pity,  and  'open  as  day  to  melting 
charity,'  we  shall  not  turn  to  Him  with  our  hearts. 

The  message  puts  the  response  which  it  sought  in  a 
variety  of  ways ;  namely,  turning  to  Jehovah,  not  being 
stiff-necked,  yielding  selves  to  Jehovah,  entering  into 
His  sanctuary.  More  than  outward  participation  in 
the  passover  ceremonial  is  involved.  Submission  of 
will,  abandonment  of  former  courses  of  action,  docility 
of  spirit  ready  to  be  directed  anywhere,  the  habit  of 
abiding  with  God  by  communion — all  these,  the  stand- 
ing characteristics  of  the  religious  life,  are  at  least 
suggested  by  the  invitations  here.  We  are  all  sum- 
moned thus  to  yield  ourselves  to  God,  and  especially  to 
do  so  by  surrendering  our  wills  to  Him,  and  to  '  enter 
into  His  sanctuary,'  by  keeping  up  such  communion 
with  Him  as  that,  however  and  wherever  occupied,  we 
shall  still '  dwell  in  the  house  of  the  Lord  all  the  days  of 
our  lives.' 

And  the  summons  to  return  unto  God  is  addressed  to 
us  all  even  more  urgently  than  to  Israel.  God  Himself 
invites  us  by  the  voice  of  His  providences,  by  His  voice 
within,  and  by  the  voice  of  Jesus  Himself,  who  is  ever 


vs.  1-13]       A  STRANGE  REWARD  243 

saying  to  each  of  us,  by  His  death  and  passion,  by  His 
resurrection  and  ascension,  'Turn  ye !  turn  ye !  why  will 
ye  die  ? '  and  who  has  more  than  endorsed  Hezekiah's 
messengers'  assurance  that  'Jehovah  will  not  turn  away 
His  face  from '  us  by  His  own  gracious  promise,  '  Him 
that  Cometh  to  Me  I  will  in  no  wise  cast  out.' 

The  king's  message  met  a  mingled  reception.  Some 
mocked,  some  w^ere  moved  and  accepted.  So,  alas !  is  it 
with  the  better  message,  which  is  either  '  a  savour  of  life 
unto  life  or  of  death  unto  death.'  The  same  fire  melts 
wax  and  hardens  clay.  May  it  be  with  all  of  us  as  it 
was  in  Judah — that  we  '  have  one  heart,  to  do  the  com- 
mandment '  and  to  accept  the  merciful  summons  to  the 
great  passover  1 


A  STRANGE  REWARD  FOR  FAITHFULNESS 

'After  these  things,  and  the  establishment  thereof,  Sennacherib,   king  of 
Assyria,  came.'— 2  Chron.  zxxii.  1. 

The  Revised  Version  gives  a  much  more  accurate  and 
significant  rendering  of  a  part  of  these  words.  It 
reads:  'After  these  things  and  this  faithfulness ,  Sen- 
nacherib, king  of  Assyria,  came.'  What  are  'these 
things '  and  '  this  faithfulness '  ?  The  former  are  the 
whole  of  the  events  connected  with  the  religious 
reformation  in  Judah,  which  King  Hezekiah  inaugur- 
ated and  carried  through  so  brilliantly  and  success- 
fully. This  '  faithfulness  '  directly  refers  to  a  word  in 
a  couple  of  verses  before  the  text :  '  Thus  did  Hezekiah 
throughout  all  Judah ;  and  he  wrought  that  which  was 
good  and  right  and  faithfulness  before  the  Lord  his 
God.'  And,  after  these  things,  the  re-establishment 
of  religion  and  this   'faithfulness,'  though  Hezekiah 


244  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxxii. 

was  perfect  before  God  in  all  ritual  observances  and 
in  practical  righteousness,  and  though  he  was  seeking 
the  Lord  his  God  with  all  his  heart,  here  is  what  came 
of  it : — '  After  this  faithfulness  came '  not  blessings  or 
prosperity,  but  '  Sennacherib,  king  of  Assyria ' !  The 
chronicler  not  only  tells  this  as  singular,  but  one  can 
feel  that  he  is  staggered  by  it.  There  is  a  tone  of 
perplexity  and  wonder  in  his  voice  as  he  records  that 
this  was  what  followed  the  faithful  righteousness 
and  heart-devotion  of  the  best  king  that  ever  sat  on 
the  throne  of  Judah.  I  think  that  this  royal  martyr's 
experience  is  really  a  mirror  of  the  experience  of 
devout  men  in  all  ages  and  a  revelation  of  the  great 
law  and  constant  processes  of  the  Divine  Providence. 
And  from  that  point  of  view  I  wish  to  speak  now,  not 
only  on  the  words  I  have  read,  but  on  what  follows 
them. 

I.  We  have  here  the  statement  of  the  mystery. 

It  is  the  standing  puzzle  of  the  Old  Testament,  how 
good  men  come  to  be  troubled,  and  how  bad  men  come 
to  be  prosperous.  And  although  we  Christian  men  and 
women  are  a  great  deal  too  apt  to  suppose  that  we 
have  outlived  that  rudimentary  puzzle  of  the  religious 
mind,  yet  I  do  not  think  by  any  means  that  we  have. 
For  we  hear  men,  when  the  rod  falls  upon  themselves, 
saying,  '  What  have  I  done  that  I  should  be  smitten 
thus?'  or  when  their  friends  suffer,  saying,  'What  a 
marvellous  thing  it  is  that  such  a  good  man  as  A,  B, 
or  C  should  have  so  much  trouble!'  or,  when  wide- 
spread calamities  strike  a  community,  standing  aghast 
at  the  broad  and  dark  shadows  that  fall  upon  a  nation 
or  a  continent,  and  wondering  what  the  meaning  of 
all  this  heaped  misery  is,  and  why  the  world  is  thus 
allowed    to    run  along  its  course  surrounded  by  an 


v.l]  A  STRANGE  REWARD  245 

atmosphere  made    up    of   the    breath    of    sighs,    and 
swathed  in  clouds  which  are  moist  with  tears. 

My  text  gives  us  an  illustration  in  the  sharpest  form 
of  the  mystery.  *  After  these  things  and  this  faithful- 
ness, Sennacherib  came ' — and  he  always  comes  in  one 
shape  or  another.  For,  to  begin  with,  a  good  man's 
goodness  does  not  lift  him  out  of  the  ordinary  associa- 
tions and  contingencies  and  laws  of  life.  If  he  has 
inherited  a  diseased  constitution,  his  devotion  will  not 
make  him  a  healthy  man.  If  he  has  little  common 
sense,  his  godliness  will  not  make  him  prosper  in 
worldly  affairs.  If  he  is  tied  to  unfortunate  connec- 
tions, he  will  have  to  suffer.  If  he  happens  to  be  in 
a  decaying  branch  of  business,  his  prayers  will  not 
make  him  prosperous.  If  he  falls  in  the  way  of 
poisonous  gas  from  a  sewer,  his  godliness  will  not 
exempt  him  from  an  attack  of  fever.  So  all  round  the 
horizon  we  see  this :  that  the  godly  man  is  involved 
like  any  other  man  in  the  ordinary  contingencies  and 
possible  evils  of  life.  Then,  have  we  to  say  that  God 
has  nothing  to  do  with  these  ? 

Again,  Hezekiah's  story  teaches  us  how  second  causes 
are  God's  instruments,  and  He  is  at  the  back  of  every- 
thing. There  are  two  sources  of  our  knowledge  of  the 
history  of  Judah  in  the  time  with  which  we  are  con- 
cerned. One  is  the  Bible,  the  other  is  the  Assyrian 
monuments;  and  it  is  a  most  curious  contrast  to 
read  the  two  narratives  of  the  same  events,  agreeing 
about  the  facts,  but  disagreeing  utterly  in  the  spirit. 
Why?  Because  the  one  tells  the  story  from  the  world's 
point  of  view,  and  the  other  tells  it  from  God's  point 
of  view.  So  when  you  take  the  one  narrative,  it  is 
simply  this :  '  There  was  a  conspiracy  down  in  the  south 
against  the  political  supremacy  of  Assyria,  and  a  lot  of 


246  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxxii. 

little  confederate  kinglets  gathered  themselves;  and 
Hezekiah,  of  Judah,  was  one,  along  with  So-and-So  of 
such-and-such  a  petty  land,  and  they  leaned  upon 
Egypt;  and  I,  Sennacherib,  came  down  among  them, 
and  they  tumbled  to  pieces,  and  that  is  all.'  Then  the 
Bible  comes  in,  and  it  says  that  God  ordered  all  those 
political  complications,  and  that  they  were  all  the 
working  out  of  His  purposes,  and  that '  the  axe  in  His 
hand,'  as  Isaiah  has  it  so  picturesquely,  was  this  proud 
king  of  Assyria,  with  his  boastful  mouth  and  vain- 
glorious words. 

Now,  that  is  the  principle  by  which  we  have  to 
estimate  all  the  events  that  befall  us.  There  are  two 
ways  of  looking  at  them.  You  may  look  at  them  from 
the  under  side  or  from  the  top  side.  You  may  see 
them  as  they  appear  to  men  who  cannot  look  beyond 
their  noses  and  only  have  concern  with  the  visible 
cranks  and  shafting,  or  you  may  look  at  them  from 
the  engine-room  and  take  account  of  the  invisible 
power  that  drives  them  all.  In  the  one  case  you  will 
regard  it  as  a  mystery  that  good  men  should  have  to 
suffer  so ;  in  the  other  case,  you  will  say,  '  It  is  the 
Lord,  let  Him  do '  —  even  when  He  does  it  through 
Sennacherib  and  his  like,  '  let  Him  do  what  seemeth 
Him  good.' 

Then  there  is  another  thing  to  be  taken  into  account 
— that  is,  that  the  better  a  man  is,  the  more  faithful 
he  is  and  the  more  closely  he  cleaves  to  God,  and  seeks, 
like  this  king,  to  do,  with  all  his  heart,  all  his  work  in 
the  service  of  the  House  of  God  and  to  seek  his  God, 
the  more  sure  is  he  to  bring  down  upon  himself  certain 
forms  of  trouble  and  trial.  The  rebellion  which,  from 
the  Assyrian  side  of  the  river,  seemed  to  be  a  mere 
political  revolt,  from  the  Jordan   side  of    the    river 


V.  1]  A  STRANGE  REWARD  247 

seemed  to  be  closely  connected  with  the  religious 
reformation.  And  it  was  just  because  Hezekiah  and 
his  people  came  back  to  God  that  they  rebelled  against 
the  King  of  Assyria  and  served  him  not.  If  you  pro- 
voke Sennacherib,  Sennacherib  will  be  down  upon  you 
very  quickly.  That  is  to  say,  being  translated,  if  you 
will  live  like  Christian  men  and  women  and  fling  down 
the  gage  of  battle  to  the  world  and  to  the  evil  that 
lies  in  every  one  of  us,  and  say,  '  No,  I  have  nothing 
to  do  with  you.  My  law  is  not  your  law,  and,  God 
helping  me,  my  practice  shall  not  be  your  practice,' 
then  you  will  find  out  that  the  power  that  you  have 
defied  has  a  very  long  arm  and  a  very  tight  grasp,  and 
you  will  have  to  make  up  your  minds  that,  in  some 
shape  or  other,  the  old  law  will  be  fulfilled  about 
you.  Through  much  tribulation  we  must  enter  the 
Kingdom. 

II.  Now,  secondly,  my  text  and  its  context  solve  the 
mystery  which  it  raises. 

The  chronicler,  as  I  said,  wishes  us  to  notice  the 
sequence,  strange  as  it  is,  and  to  wonder  at  it  for  a 
moment,  in  order  that  we  may  be  prepared  the  better 
to  take  in  the  grand  explanation  that  follows.  And 
the  explanation  lies  in  the  facts  that  ensue. 

Did  Sennacherib  come  to  destroy?  By  no  means! 
Here  were  the  results:  first,  a  stirring  to  wholesome 
energy  and  activity.  If  annoyances  and  troubles  and 
sorrows,  great  or  small,  do  nothing  else  for  us,  they 
would  be  clear  and  simple  gain  if  they  woke  us  up,  for 
the  half  of  men  pass  half  of  their  lives  half-asleep.  And 
anybody  that  has  ever  come  through  a  great  sorrow  and 
can  remember  what  deep  fountains  were  opened  in  his 
heart  that  he  knew  nothing  about  before,  and  how 
powers  that  were  all  unsuspected  by  himself  suddenly 


248  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxxii. 

came  to  him,  and  how  life,  instead  of  being  a  trivial 
succession  of  nothings,  all  at  once  became  significant 
and  solemn — any  man  who  can  remember  that,  will 
feel  that  if  there  were  nothing  else  that  his  troubles 
did  for  him  than  to  shake  him  out  of  torpor  and  rouse 
him  to  a  tension  of  wholesome  activity,  so  that  he 
cried  out : 

•  Call  forth  thy  powers,  my  soul !  and  dare 
The  conflict  of  unequal  war,' 

he  would  have  occasion  to  bless  God  for  the  roughest 
handling.  The  tropics  are  very  pleasant  for  lazy 
people,  but  they  sap  the  constitution  and  make  work 
impossible ;  and  after  a  man  has  lived  for  a  while  in 
their  perpetual  summer,  he  begins  to  long  for  damp 
and  mist  and  frost  and  east  winds  which  bring  bracing 
to  the  system  and  make  him  fit  to  work.  God  takes 
us  often  into  very  ungenial  climates,  and  the  vindica- 
tion of  it  is  that  we  may  be  set  to  active  service.  That 
was  the  first  good  thing  that  Sennacherib's  coming 
did. 

The  next  was  that  his  invasion  increased  dependence 
upon  God.  You  will  remember  the  story  of  the  in- 
solent taunts  and  vulgar  vaunting  by  him  and  his 
servants,  and  the  one  answer  that  was  given :  '  Heze- 
kiah,  the  king,  and  Isaiah  the  son  of  Amoz  the  prophet, 
prayed  and  cried  to  God.'  Ah !  dear  brethren,  any 
thing  that  drives  us  to  His  breast  is  blessing.  We  may 
call  it  evil  when  we  speak  from  the  point  of  view  of 
the  foolish  senses  and  the  quivering  heart,  but  if  it 
blows  us  into  His  arms,  any  wind,  the  roughest  and  the 
fiercest,  is  to  be  welcomed  more  than  lazy  calms  or 
gentle  zephyrs.  If,  realising  our  ow^n  weakness  and 
impotence,  we  are  made  to  hang  more  completely  upon 


V.  1]  A  STRANGE  REWARD  249 

Him,  then  let  us  be  thankful  for  whatever  has  been 
the  means  of  such  a  blessed  issue.  That  was  the  second 
good  thing  that  Sennacherib  did. 

The  third  good  thing  that  he — not  exactly  did — but 
that  was  done  through  him,  was  that  experience  of 
God's  delivering  power  was  enriched.  You  remember 
the  miracle  of  the  destruction  of  the  army.  I  need 
not  dilate  upon  it.  A  man  who  can  look  back  and  say, 
*  Thou  hast  been  with  me  in  six  troubles,'  need  never 
be  afraid  of  the  seventh ;  and  he  who  has  hung  upon 
that  strong  rope  when  he  has  been  swinging  away 
down  in  the  darkness  and  asphyxiating  atmosphere  of 
the  pit,  and  has  been  drawn  up  into  the  sunshine  again, 
will  trust  it  for  all  coming  time.  If  there  were  no 
other  explanation,  the  enlarged  and  deepened  ex- 
perience of  the  realities  of  God's  Gospel  and  of  God's 
grace,  which  are  bought  only  by  sorrow,  would  be  a 
sufficient  explanation  of  any  sorrow  that  any  of  us 
have  ever  had  to  carry. 

'  Well  roars  the  storm  to  him  who  hears 
A  deeper  voice  across  the  storm.' 

There  are  large  tracts  of  Scripture  which  have  no 
meaning,  no  blessedness  to  us  until  they  have  been 
interpreted  to  us  by  losses  and  sorrows.  We  never 
know  the  worth  of  the  lighthouse  until  the  November 
darkness  and  the  howling  winds  come  down  upon  us, 
and  then  we  appreciate  its  preciousness. 

So,  dear  friends !  the  upshot  of  the  whole  is  just  that 
old  teaching,  that  if  we  realised  what  life  is  for,  we 
should  wonder  less  at  the  sorrows  that  are  in  it.  For 
life  is  meant  to  miake  us  partakers  of  His  holiness,  not 
to  make  us  happy.  Our  happiness  is  a  secondary  pur- 
pose, not  out  of  view  of  the  Divine  love,  but  it  is  not 


250  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxxii. 

the  primary  one.  And  the  direct  intention  and  mission 
of  sorrow,  like  the  direct  intention  and  mission  of  joy, 
are  to  further  that  great  purpose,  that  we  *  should  be 
partakers  of  His  holiness.'  *  Every  branch  in  Me  that 
beareth  fruit,  He  purgeth  it,  that  it  may  bring  forth 
more  fruit.* 

III.  Lastly,  my  text    suggests    a    warning    against 
letting  prosperity  undo  adversity's  work. 

Hezekiah  came  bravely  through  his  trials.  They  did 
exactly  what  God  wanted  them  to  do ;  they  drove  him 
to  God,  they  forced  him  down  upon  his  knees.  When 
Sennacherib's  letter  came,  he  took  it  to  the  Temple  and 
spread  it  before  God,  and  said,  'O  Lord!  it  is  Thy 
business.  It  is  addressed  to  me,  but  it  is  meant  for 
Thee ;  do  Thou  answer  it.'  And  so  he  received  the 
help  that  he  wanted.  But  he  broke  down  after  that. 
He  was  '  exalted ' ;  and  the  allies,  his  neighbours,  that 
had  not  lifted  a  finger  to  help  him  when  he  needed 
their  help,  sent  him  presents  which  would  have  been 
a  great  deal  more  seasonable  when  he  was  struggling 
for  his  life  with  Sennacherib.  What  'came  after 
(God's)  faithfulness'?  This— 'his  heart  was  lifted  up, 
and  he  rendered  not  according  to  the  benefit  rendered 
to  him.'  Therefore  the  blow  had  to  come  down  again. 
A  great  many  people  take  refuge  in  archways  when  it 
rains,  and  run  out  as  soon  as  it  holds  up,  and  a  great 
many  people  take  religion  as  an  umbrella,  to  put  down 
when  the  sunshine  comes.  We  cross  the  bridge  and 
forget  it,  and  when  the  leprosy  is  out  of  us  we  do  not 
care  to  go  back  and  give  thanks.  Sometimes  too,  we 
begin  to  think,  '  After  all,  it  was  we  that  killed 
Sennacherib's  army,  and  not  the  angel.'  And  so,  like 
dull  scholars,  we  need  the  lesson  repeated  once,  twice, 
thrice,  'here  a  little  and  there  a  little,  precept  upon 


V.  1]  MANASSEH'S  SIN  251 

precept,  line  upon  line.'  There  is  none  o£  us  that 
has  so  laid  to  heart  our  past  difficulties  and  trials  that 
it  is  safe  for  God  to  burn  the  rod  as  long  as  we  are  in 
this  life. 

Dear  friends !  do  not  let  it  be  said  of  us,  *  In  vain  have 
I  smitten  thy  children.  They  have  received  no  correc- 
tion ' ;  but  rather  let  us  keep  close  to  Him,  and  seek  to 
learn  the  sweet  and  loving  meaning  of  His  sharpest 
strokes.  Then  the  little  book,  'written  within  and 
without  with  lamentation  and  woe,'  which  we  all  in 
our  turn  have  to  absorb  and  make  our  own,  may  be 
'bitter  in  the  mouth,'  but  will  be  'sweet  as  honey' 
thereafter. 


MANASSEH'S  SIN  AND  REPENTANCE 

'  So  Managseh  made  Jtidah  and  the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  to  err,  and  to  do 
worse  than  the  heathen,  whom  the  Lord  had  destroyed  before  the  children  of 
Israel.  10.  And  the  Lord  spake  to  Manasseh,  and  to  his  people:  but  they  would 
not  hearken.  11.  Wherefore  the  Lord  brought  upon  them  the  captains  of  the  host 
of  the  king  of  Assyria,  which  took  Manasseh  among  the  thorns,  and  bound  him 
with  fetters,  and  carried  him  to  Babylon.  12.  And  when  he  was  in  affliction,  he 
besought  the  Lord  his  God,  and  humbled  himself  greatly  before  the  God  of  his 
fathers,  13.  And  prayed  unto  him :  and  he  was  intreated  of  him,  and  heard  his 
supplication,  and  brought  him  again  to  Jerusalem  into  his  kingdom.  Then 
Manasseh  knew  that  the  Lord  He  was  God.  14.  Now  after  this  he  built  a  wall 
without  the  city  of  David,  on  the  west  side  of  Gihon,  in  the  valley,  even  to  the 
entering  in  at  the  fish  gate,  and  compassed  about  Ophel,  and  raised  it  up  a  very 
great  height,  and  put  captains  of  war  in  all  the  fenced  cities  of  Judah.  15.  And 
he  took  away  the  strange  gods,  and  the  idol  out  of  the  house  of  the  Lord,  and 
all  the  altars  that  he  had  built  in  the  mount  of  the  house  of  the  Lord,  and  in 
Jerusalem,  and  cast  them  out  of  the  city.  16.  And  he  repaired  the  altar  of  the 
Lord,  and  sacrificed  thereon  peace  oflTerings  and  thank  oflFerings,  and  commanded 
Judah  to  serve  the  Lord  God  of  Israel.'— 2  Chron.  zxxiii.  9-16. 

The  story  of  Manasseh's  sin  and  repentance  may  stand 
as  a  typical  example.  Its  historical  authenticity  is 
denied  on  the  ground  that  it  appears  only  in  this  Book 
of  Chronicles.  I  must  leave  others  to  discuss  that 
matter ;  my  purpose  is  to  bring  out  the  teaching  con- 
tained in  the  story. 


252  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxxiii. 

The  first  point  in  it  is  the  stern  indictment  against 
Manasseh  and  his  people.  The  experience  which  has 
saddened  many  a  humbler  home  was  repeated  in  the 
royal  house,  where  a  Hezekiah  was  followed  by  a 
Manasseh,  who  scorned  all  that  his  father  had 
worshipped,  and  worshipped  all  that  his  father  had 
loathed.  Happily  the  father's  eyes  were  closed  long 
before  the  idolatrous  bias  of  his  son  could  have 
disclosed  itself.  Succeeding  to  the  throne  at  twelve 
years  of  age,  he  could  not  have  begun  his  evil  ways  at 
once,  and  probably  would  have  been  preserved  from 
them  if  his  father  had  lived  long  enough  to  mould  his 
character.  A  child  of  twelve,  flung  on  to  a  throne, 
was  likely  to  catch  the  infection  of  any  sin  that  was 
in  the  atmosphere.  The  narrative  specifies  two  points 
in  which,  as  he  matured  in  years,  and  was  confirmed 
in  his  course  of  conduct,  he  went  wrong :  first,  in  his 
idolatry;  and  second,  in  his  contempt  of  remonstrances 
and  warnings.  As  to  the  former,  the  preceding  context 
gives  a  terrible  picture.  He  was  smitten  with  a  very 
delirium  of  idolatry,  and  wallowed  in  any  and  every 
sort  of  false  worship.  No  matter  what  strange  god 
was  presented,  there  were  hospitality,  an  altar,  and  an 
offering  for  him.  Baal,  Moloch,  'the  host  of  heaven,' 
wizards,  enchanters,  anybody  who  pretended  to  have 
any  sort  of  black  art,  all  were  welcome,  and  the  more 
the  better.  No  doubt,  this  eager  acceptance  of  a  mis- 
cellaneous multitude  of  deities  was  partly  reaction 
from  the  monotheism  of  the  former  reign,  but  also  it 
was  the  natural  result  of  being  surrounded  by  the 
worshippers  of  these  various  gods;  and  it  was  an 
unconscious  confession  of  the  insufficiency  of  each  and 
all  of  them  to  fill  the  void  in  the  heart,  and  satisfy  the 
needs  of  the  spirit.    There  are  '  gods  many,  and  lords 


vs.  9-16]  MANASSEH'S  SIN  258 

many,'  because  they  are  insufficient ;  *  the  Lord  our 
God  is  one  Lord,'  because  He,  in  His  single  Self,  is  more 
than  all  these,  and  is  enough  for  any  and  every  man. 

We  may  note,  too,  that  at  the  beginning  of  the 
chapter  Manasseh  is  said  to  have  done  '  like  unto  the 
abominations  of  the  heathen,'  v^hile  in  verse  9  he  is 
said  to  have  done  '  evil  more  than  did  the  nations.* 
When  a  worshipper  of  Jehovah  does  like  the  heathen, 
he  does  worse  than  they.  An  apostate  Christian  is 
more  guilty  than  one  vrho  has  never  '  tasted  the  good 
word  of  God,'  and  is  likely  to  push  his  sins  to  a  more 
flagrant  wickedness.  '  The  corruption  of  the  best  is 
the  worst.'  We  cannot  do  what  the  world  does  without 
being  more  deeply  guilty  than  they. 

The  narrative  lays  stress  on  the  fact  that  the  king's 
inclination  to  idolatry  was  agreeable  to  the  people. 
The  kings,  who  fought  against  it,  had  to  resist  the 
popular  current,  but  at  the  least  encouragement  from 
those  in  high  places  the  nation  was  ready  to  slide  back. 
Rulers  who  wish  to  lower  the  standard  of  morality  or 
religion  have  an  easy  task ;  but  the  people  who  follow 
their  lead  are  not  free  from  guilt,  though  they  can 
plead  that  they  only  followed.  The  second  count  in 
the  indictment  is  the  refusal  of  king  and  people  to 
listen  to  God's  remonstrances.  2  Kings,  chap,  xxi.,  gives 
the  prophets'  warnings  at  greater  length.  '  They  would 
not  hearken,' — can  anything  madder  and  sadder  be 
said  of  any  of  us  than  that  ?  Is  it  not  the  very  sin  of 
sins,  and  the  climax  of  suicidal  folly,  that  God  should 
call  and  men  stop  their  ears  ?  And  yet  how  many  of 
us  pay  no  more  regard  to  His  voice,  in  His  providences, 
in  our  own  consciences,  in  history,  in  Scripture,  and, 
most  penetrating  and  beseeching  of  all,  in  Christ,  than 
to  idle  wind  whistling  through  an  archway !    Our  own 


254  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxxiii. 

evil  deeds  stop  our  ears,  and  the  stopped  ears  make 
further  evil  deeds  more  easy. 

The  second  step  in  this  typical  story  is  merciful 
chastisement,  meant  to  secure  a  hearing  for  God's 
voice.  2  Kings  tells  the  threat,  but  not  the  fulfilment; 
Chronicles  tells  the  fulfilment,  but  not  the  threat. 
We  note  how  emphatically  God's  hand  is  recognised 
behind  the  political  complications  which  brought  the 
Assyrians  to  Jerusalem,  and  how  particularly  it  is 
stated  that  the  invasion  was  not  headed  by  Esarhaddon, 
but  by  his  generals.  The  place  of  Manasseh's  captivity 
also  is  specified,  not  as  Nineveh,  as  might  have  been 
expected,  but  as  Babylon.  These  details,  especially  the 
last,  look  like  genuine  history.  It  is  history  which 
carries  a  lesson.  Here  is  one  conspicuous  instance  of 
the  divine  method,  which  is  working  to-day  as  it  did 
then.  God's  hand  is  behind  the  secondary  causes  of 
events.  Our  sorrows  and  'misfortunes'  are  sent  to  us  by 
Him,  not  hurled  at  us  by  human  hands  only,  or  occurring 
by  the  working  of  impersonal  laws.  They  are  meant 
to  make  us  bethink  ourselves,  and  drop  evil  things  from 
our  hands  and  hearts.  It  is  best  to  be  guided  by  His 
eye,  and  not  need  'bit  and  bridle';  but  if  we  make 
ourselves  stubborn  as  *  the  mule,  which  has  no  under- 
standing,* it  is  second  best  that  we  should  taste  the 
whip,  that  it  may  bring  us  to  run  in  harness  on  the 
road  which  He  wills.  If  we  habitually  looked  at 
calamities  as  His  loving  chastisement,  intended  to  draw 
us  to  Himself,  we  should  not  have  to  stand  perplexed 
so  often  at  what  we  call  the  mysteries  of  His 
providence. 

The  next  step  in  the  story  is  the  yielding  of  the  sinful 
heart  when  smitten.  The  worst  affliction  is  an  affliction 
wasted,  which  does  us  no  good.     And  God  has  often  to 


vs. 9-16]  MANASSEH'S  SIN  255 

lament,  *  In  vain  have  I  smitten  your  children ;  they 
received  no  correction.'  Sorrow  has  in  itself  no  power 
to  effect  the  purpose  for  which  it  is  sent ;  but  all 
depends  on  how  we  take  it.  It  sometimes  makes  us 
hard,  bitter,  obstinate  in  clinging  to  evil.  A  heart  that 
has  been  disciplined  by  it,  and  still  is  undisciplined,  is 
like  iron  hammered  on  an  anvil,  and  made  the  more 
close-grained  thereby.  But  this  king  took  his  chastise- 
ment wisely.  An  accepted  sorrow  is  an  angel  in  dis- 
guise, and  nothing  which  drives  us  to  God  is  a  calamity. 
Manasseh  praying  was  freer  in  his  chains  than  ever  he 
had  been  in  his  prosperity.  Manasseh  humbling  him- 
self greatly  before  God  was  higher  than  when,  in  the 
pride  of  his  heart,  he  shut  God  out  from  it. 

Affliction  should  clear  our  sight,  that  we  may  see 
ourselves  as  we  are ;  and,  if  we  do,  there  will  be  an 
end  of  high  looks,  and  we  shall '  take  the  lowest  room.' 
Thus  humbled,  we  shall  pray  as  the  self-confident  and 
outwardly  prosperous  cannot  do.  Sorrow  has  done  its 
best  on  us  when,  like  some  strong  hand  on  our 
shoulders,  it  has  brought  us  to  our  knees.  No  affliction 
has  yielded  its  full  blessing  to  us  unless  it  has  thus  set 
us  by  Manasseh's  side. 

The  next  step  in  the  story  is  the  loving  answer  to 
the  humbled  heart,  and  the  restoration  to  the  kingdom. 
*  He  was  entreated  of  him.'  No  doubt,  political  circum- 
stances brought  about  Manasseh's  reinstatement,  as 
they  had  brought  about  his  captivity,  but  it  was  God 
that  *  brought  him  again  to  his  kingdom.'  We  may 
not  receive  again  lost  good  things,  but  we  may  be 
quite  sure  that  God  never  fails  to  hear  the  cry  of 
the  humble,  and  that,  if  there  is  one  voice  that  more 
surely  reaches  His  ear  and  moves  His  heart  than 
another,  it  is  the  voice  of  His  chastened  children,  who 


256  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxxiii. 

cry  to  Him  out  of  the  depths,  and  there  have  learned 
their  own  sin  and  sore  need.  He  will  be  entreated  of 
them,  and,  whether  He  gives  back  lost  good  or  not.  He 
will  give  Himself,  in  whom  all  good  is  comprehended. 
Manasseh's  experience  may  be  repeated  in  us. 

And  the  best  part  of  it  was,  not  that  he  received 
back  his  kingdom,  but  that '  then  Manasseh  knew  that 
the  Lord  He  was  God.'  The  name  had  been  but  a  name 
to  him,  but  now  it  had  become  a  reality.  Our  tradi- 
tional, second-hand  belief  in  God  is  superficial  and 
largely  unreal  till  it  is  deepened  and  vivified  by 
experience.  If  we  have  cried  to  Him,  and  been 
lightened,  then  we  have  a  ground  of  conviction  that 
cannot  be  shaken.  Formerly  we  could  at  most  say,  '  I 
believe  in  God,'  or,  '  I  think  there  is  a  God,'  but  now  we 
can  say,  '  I  know,'  and  no  criticism  nor  contradiction 
can  shake  that.  Such  knowledge  is  not  the  knowledge 
won  by  the  understanding  alone,  but  it  is  acquaintance 
with  a  living  Person,  like  the  knowledge  which  loving 
souls  have  of  each  other ;  and  he  who  has  that 
knowledge  as  the  issue  of  his  own  experience  may 
smile  at  doubts  and  questionings,  and  say  with  the 
Apostle  of  Love, '  We  know  that  we  are  of  God,  .  .  . 
and  we  know  that  the  Son  of  God  is  come,  and  hath 
given  us  an  understanding,  that  we  may  know  Him 
that  is  true.'  Then,  if  we  have  that  knowledge,  we 
shall  listen  to  the  same  Apostle's  commandment, '  Keep 
yourselves  from  idols,'  even  as  the  issue  of  Manasseh's 
knowledge  of  God  was  that '  he  took  away  the  strange 
gods,  and  the  idol  out  of  the  house  of  the  Lord.' 


JOSIAH 

•  Josiah  was  eight  years  old  when  he  began  to  reign,  and  ho  reigned  in  Jerusalem 

one  and  thirty  years.  2.  And  he  did  that  which  was  right  in  the  sight~of  the  Lord, 
and  walked  in  the  ways  of  David  his  father,  and  declined  neither  to  the  right  hand, 
nor  to  the  left.  3.  For  in  the  eighth  year  of  his  reign,  while  he  was  yet  young,  he 
began  to  seek  after  the  God  of  David  his  father :  and  in  the  twelfth  year  he  began 
to  purge  Judah  and  Jerusalem  from  the  high  places,  and  the  groves,  and  the 
carved  images,  and  the  molten  images.  4.  And  they  brake  down  the  altars  of 
Baalim  in  his  presence ;  and  the  images,  that  were  on  high  above  them,  he  cut 
down;  and  the  groves,  and  the  carved  images,  and  the  molten  images,  he  brake 
in  pieces,  and  made  dust  of  them,  and  strowed  it  upon  the  graves  of  them  that 
had  sacrificed  unto  them.  5.  And  he  burnt  the  bones  of  the  priests  upon  their 
altars,  and  cleansed  Judah  and  Jerusalem.  6.  And  so  did  he  in  the  cities  of 
Manasseh,  and  Ephraim,  and  Simeon,  even  unto  Naphtali,  with  their  mattocks 
round  about.  7.  And  when  he  had  broken  down  the  altars  and  the  groves,  and  had 
beaten  the  graven  images  into  powder,  and  cut  down  all  the  idols  throughout  all 
the  land  of  Israel,  he  returned  to  Jerusalem.  8.  Now  in  the  eighteenth  year  of  his 
reign,  when  he  had  purged  the  land,  and  the  house,  he  sent  Shaphan  the  son  of 
Azaliah,  and  Maaseiah  the  governor  of  the  city,  and  Joah  the  son  of  Joahaz  the 
recorder,  to  repair  the  house  of  the  Lord  his  God.  9.  And  when  they  came  to 
Hilkiah  the  high  priest,  they  delivered  the  money  that  was  brought  into  the 
house  of  God,  which  the  Levites  that  kept  the  doors  had  gathered  of  the  hand  of 
Manasseh  and  Ephraim,  and  of  all  the  remnant  of  Israel,  and  of  all  Judah  and 
Benjamin ;  and  they  returned  to  Jerusalem.  10.  And  they  put  it  in  the  hand  of  the 
workmen  that  had  the  oversight  of  the  house  of  the  Lord,  and  they  gave  it  to  the 
workmen  that  wrought  in  the  house  of  the  Lord,  to  repair  and  amend  the  house : 

11.  Even  to  the  artificers  and  builders  gave  they  it,  to  buy  hewn  stone,  and  timber 
for  couplings,  and  to  floor  the  houses  which  the  kings  of  Judah  had  destroyed. 

12.  And  the  men  did  the  work  faithfully :  and  the  overseers  of  them  were  Jahath 
and  Obadiah,  the  Levites,  of  the  sons  of  Merari ;  and  Zechariah  and  Meshullam, 
of  the  sons  of  the  Kohathites,  to  set  it  forward;  and  other  of  the  Levites,  all 
that  could  skill  of  instruments  of  musick.  13.  Also  they  were  over  the  bearers  of 
burdens,  and  were  overseers  of  all  that  wrought  the  work  in  any  manner  of 
service:  and  of  the  Levites  there  were  scribes,  and  officers,  and  porters.'— 
2  Chron.  xxxiv.  1-13. 

Another  boy  king,  even  younger  than  his  grandfather 
Manasseh  had  been  at  his  accession,  and  another  re- 
versal of  the  father's  religion  !  These  vibrations  from 
idolatry  to  Jehovah-worship,  at  the  pleasure  of  the 
king,  sadly  tell  how  little  the  people  cared  whom  they 
worshipped,  and  how  purely  a  matter  of  ceremonies  and 
names  both  their  idolatry  and  their  Jehovah-worship 
were.  The  religion  of  the  court  was  the  religion  of  the 
nation,  only  idolatry  was  more  congenial  than  the 
service  of  God.  How  far  the  child  monarch  Josiah  had 
a  deeper  sense  of  what  that  service  meant  we  cannot 
decide,  but  the  little  outline  sketch  of  him  in  verses 


258  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxxiv. 

2  and  3  is  at  least  suggestive  of  his  having  it,  and  may 
well  stand  as  a  fair  portrait  of  early  godliness. 

A  child  eight  years  old,  who  had  been  lifted  on  to  the 
throne  of  a  murdered  father,  must  have  had  a  strong 
will  and  a  love  of  goodness  to  have  resisted  the  cor- 
rupting influences  of  royalty  in  a  land  full  of  idols. 
Here  again  we  see  that,  great  as  may  be  the  power  of 
circumstances,  they  do  not  determine  character;  for 
it  is  always  open  to  us  either  to  determine  whether  we 
yield  to  them  or  resist  them.  The  prevailing  idolatry 
influenced  the  boy,  but  it  influenced  him  to  hate  it  with 
all  his  heart.  So  out  of  the  nettle  danger  we  may  pluck 
the  flower  safety.  The  men  who  have  smitten  down 
some  evil  institution  have  generally  been  brought  up 
so  as  to  feel  its  full  force. 

'  He  did  that  which  was  right  in  the  eyes  of  Jehovah ' 
— that  may  mean  simply  that  he  worshipped  Jehovah 
by  outward  ceremonies,  but  it  probably  means  more ; 
namely,  that  his  life  was  pure  and  God-pleasing,  or,  as 
we  should  say,  clean  and  moral,  free  from  the  foul 
vices  which  solicit  a  young  prince.  *  He  walked  in  the 
ways  of  David  his  father'  —  not  being  one  of  the 
'emancipated'  youths  who  think  it  manly  to  throw  off 
the  restraints  of  their  fathers'  faith  and  morals.  He 
•  turned  not  aside  to  the  right  hand  or  to  the  left ' — but 
marched  right  onwards  on  the  road  that  conscience 
traced  out  for  him,  though  tempting  voices  called  to 
him  from  many  a  side-alley  that  seemed  to  lead  to 
pleasant  places.  *  While  he  was  yet  young,  he  began 
to  seek  after  the  God  of  David  his  father' — at  the 
critical  age  of  sixteen,  when  Easterns  are  older  than 
we,  in  the  flush  of  early  manhood,  he  awoke  to  deeper 
experiences  and  felt  the  need  for  a  closer  touch  of  God. 
A  career  thus  begun  will  generally  prelude  a  life  pure, 


vs.  1-13]  JOSIAH  259 

strenuous,  and  blessed  with  a  clearer  and  clearer  vision 
of  the  God  who  is  always  found  of  them  that  seek 
Him.  Such  a  childhood,  blossoming  into  such  a  boy- 
hood, and  flowering  in  such  a  manhood,  is  possible  to 
every  child  among  us.  It  will  '  still  bring  forth  fruit 
in  old  age.' 

The  two  incidents  which  the  passage  narrates,  the 
purging  of  the  land  and  the  repair  of  the  Temple,  are 
told  in  inverted  order  in  2  Kings,  but  the  order  here  is 
probably  the  more  accurate,  as  dates  are  given,  where- 
as in  2  Kings,  though  the  purging  is  related  after  the 
Temple  restoration,  it  is  not  said  to  have  occurred 
after.  But  the  order  is  of  small  consequence.  What 
is  important  is  the  fiery  energy  of  Josiah  in  the  work 
of  destruction  of  the  idols.  Here,  there,  everywhere, 
he  flames  and  consumes.  He  darts  a  flash  even  into 
the  desolate  ruins  of  the  Israelitish  kingdom,  where  the 
idols  had  survived  their  devotees  and  still  bewitched 
the  scanty  fragments  of  Israel  that  remained.  The  altars 
of  stone  were  thrown  down,  the  wooden  sun-pillars  were 
cut  to  pieces,  the  metal  images  were  broken  and  ground 
to  powder.    A  clean  sweep  was  made. 

A  dash  of  ferocity  mingled  with  contempt  appears  in 
Josiah's  scattering  the  'dust'  of  the  images  on  the 
graves  of  their  worshippers,  as  if  he  said  :  '  There  you 
lie  together,  pounded  idols  and  dead  worshippers, 
neither  able  to  help  the  other!'  The  same  feelings 
prompted  digging  up  the  skeletons  of  priests  and  burn- 
ing the  bones  on  the  very  altars  that  they  had  served, 
thus  defiling  the  altars  and  executing  judgment  on 
the  priests.  No  doubt  there  were  much  violence  and 
a  strong  strain  of  the  'wrath  of  man'  in  all  this. 
Iconoclasts  are  wont  to  be  '  violent ' ;  and  men  without 
convictions,  or  who  are  partisans  of  what  the  icono- 


260  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxxiv. 

clasts  are  rooting  out,  are  horrified  at  their  want  of 
'  moderation.'  But  though  violence  is  always  unchris- 
tian, indifference  to  rampant  evils  is  not  conspicu- 
ously more  Christian,  and,  on  the  whole,  you  cannot 
throttle  snakes  in  a  graceful  attitude  or  without  using 
some  force  to  compress  the  sinuous  neck. 

The  restoration  of  the  Temple  comes  after  the  cleans- 
ing of  the  land,  in  Chronicles,  and  naturally  in  the 
order  of  events,  for  the  casting  out  of  idols  must  always 
precede  the  building  or  repairing  of  the  Temple  of  God. 
Destructive  work  is  very  poor  unless  it  is  for  the  pur- 
pose of  clearing  a  space  to  build  the  Temple  on. 
Happy  the  man  or  the  age  which  is  able  to  do  both ! 
Josiah  and  Joash  worked  at  restoring  the  Temple  in 
much  the  same  fashion,  but  Josiah  had  a  priesthood 
more  interested  than  Joash  had. 

But  we  may  note  one  or  two  points  in  his  restora- 
tion. He  had  put  his  personal  effort  into  the  prepara- 
tory extirpation  of  idols,  but  he  did  not  need  to  do 
so  now.  He  could  work  this  time  by  deputy.  And 
it  is  noteworthy  that  he  chose  '  laymen '  to  carry  out 
the  restoration.  Perhaps  he  knew  how  Joash  had  been 
balked  by  the  knavery  of  the  priests  who  were  dili- 
gent in  collecting  money,  but  slow  in  spending  it  on 
the  Temple.  At  all  events,  he  delegated  the  work 
to  three  highly-placed  officials,  the  secretary  of  state, 
the  governor  of  Jerusalem,  and  the  official  historian. 

It  appears  that  for  some  time  a  collection  had  been 
going  on  for  Temple  repairs;  probably  it  had  been 
begun  six  years  before,  when  the  'purging'  of  the  land 
began.  It  had  been  carried  on  by  the  Levites,  and  had 
been  contributed  to  even  by  '  the  remnant  of  Israel ' 
in  the  northern  kingdom,  who,  in  their  forlorn  weak- 
ness, had  begun  to  feel  the  drawings  of  ancient  brother- 


vs.  1-13]  JOSIAH  261 

hood  and  the  tie  of  a  common  worship.  This  fund  was 
in  the  keeping  of  the  high  priest,  and  the  three  com- 
missioners were  instructed  to  require  it  from  him. 
Here  2  Kings  is  clearer  than  our  passage,  and  shows 
that  what  the  three  officials  had  mainly  to  do  was  to 
get  the  money  from  Hilkiah,  and  to  hand  it  over  to 
the  superintendents  of  the  works. 

There  are  two  remarkable  points  in  the  narrative ; 
one  is  the  observation  that  '  the  men  did  the  work 
faithfully,'  which  comes  in  rather  enigmatically  here, 
but  in  2  Kings  is  given  as  the  reason  why  no  accounts 
were  kept.  Not  an  example  to  be  imitated,  and  the 
sure  way  to  lead  subordinates  sooner  or  later  to  deal 
unfaithfully ;  but  a  pleasant  indication  of  the  spirit 
animating  all  concerned. 

Surely  these  men  worked  '  as  ever  in  the  great  Task- 
master's eye.'  That  is  what  makes  us  work  faithfully, 
whether  we  have  any  earthly  overseer  or  audit  or  no. 
Another  noteworthy  matter  is  that  not  only  were  the 
superintendents  of  the  work — the  '  contractors,*  as  we 
might  say — Levites,  but  so  were  also  the  inferior  super- 
intendents, or,  as  we  might  say,  '  foremen.' 

And  not  only  so,  but  they  were  those  that  '  were 
skilful  with  instruments  of  music'     What  were  musi- 
cians doing  there  ?    Did  the  building  rise 
'  with  the  sound 
Of  dulcet  symphonies  and  voices  sweet  ? ' 

May  we  not  gather  from  this  singular  notice  the  great 
thought  that  for  all  rearing  of  the  true  Temple,  harps 
of  praise  are  no  less  necessary  than  swords  or  trowels, 
and  that  we  shall  do  no  right  work  for  God  or  man 
unless  we  do  it  as  with  melody  in  our  hearts  ?  Our 
lives  must  be  fuU  of  music  if  we  are  to  lay  even  one 
stone  in  the  Temple. 


JOSIAH  AND  THE  NEWLY  FOUND  LAW 

'  And  when  they  brought  out  the  money  that  was  brought  into  the  house  of  the 
Lord,  Hilkiah  the  priest  found  a  book  of  the  law  of  the  Lord  given  by  Moses. 
15.  And  Hilkiah  answered  and  said  to  Shaphan  the  scribe,  I  have  found  the  book  of 
the  law  in  the  house  of  the  Lord.  And  Hilkiah  delivered  the  book  to  Shaphan. 
16  And  Shaphan  carried  the  book  to  the  king,  and  brought  the  king  word  back 
again,  saying.  All  that  was  committed  to  thy  servants,  they  do  it.  17.  And  they  have 
gathered  together  the  money  that  was  found  in  the  house  of  the  Lord,  and  have 
delivered  it  into  the  hand  of  the  overseers,  and  to  the  hand  of  the  workmen. 
18.  Then  Shaphan  the  scribe  told  the  king,  saying,  Hilkiah  the  priest  hath  given  me 
a  book.  And  Shaphan  read  it  before  the  king.  19.  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  the 
king  had  heard  the  words  of  the  law,  that  ho  rent  his  clothes.  20.  And  the  king 
commanded  Hilkiah,  and  Ahikam  the  son  of  Shaphan,  and  Abdon  the  son  of 
Micah,  and  Shaphan  the  scribe,  and  Asaiah  a  servant  of  the  king's,  saying,  21.  Go, 
enquire  of  the  Lord  for  me,  and  for  them  that  are  left  in  Israel  and  in  Judah, 
concerning  the  words  of  the  book  that  is  found :  for  great  is  the  wrath  of  the  Lord 
that  is  poured  out  upon  us,  because  our  fathers  have  not  kept  the  word  of  the 
Lord,  to  do  after  all  thatis  written  in  this  book.  22.  And  Hilkiah,  and  they  that  the 
king  had  appointed,  went  to  Huldah  the  prophetess,  the  wife  of  Shallum  the 
BOn  of  Tikvath,  the  son  of  Hasrah,  keeper  of  the  wardrobe ;  (now  she  dwelt  in 
Jerusalem  in  the  college ;)  and  they  spake  to  her  to  that  effect.  23.  And  she  answered 
them.  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God  of  Israel,  Tell  ye  the  man  that  sent  you  to  me. 
24.  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  Behold,  I  will  bring  evil  upon  this  place,  and  upon  the 
inhabitants  thereof,  even  all  the  curses  that  are  written  in  the  book  which  they 
have  read  before  the  king  of  Judah :  25.  Because  they  have  forsaken  Me,  and  have 
burned  incense  unto  other  gods,  that  they  might  provoke  Me  to  anger  with  all  the 
works  of  their  hands ;  therefore  My  wrath  shall  be  poured  out  upon  this  place, 
and  shall  not  be  quenched.  26.  And  as  for  the  king  of  Judah.  who  sent  you  to 
enquire  of  the  Ijord.  so  shall  ye  say  unto  him.  Thus  saith  the  Lord  God  of  Israel 
concerning  the  words  which  thou  hast  heard  ;  27.  Because  thine  heart  was  tender, 
and  thou  didst  humble  thyself  before  God,  when  thou  heardcst  His  words  against 
this  place,  and  against  the  inhabitants  thereof,  and  humbledst  thyself  before  Me, 
and  did  rendst  thy  clothes,  and  weep  before  Me ;  I  have  even  heard  thee  also, 
saith  the  Lord.  28.  Behold,  I  will  gather  thee  to  thy  fathers,  and  thou  shalt  be 
gathered  to  thy  grave  in  peace,  neither  shall  thine  eyes  see  all  the  evil  that  I  will 
bring  upon  this  place,  and  upon  the  inhabitants  of  the  same.  So  they  brought  the 
king  word  again.'— 2  Chron.  xxxiv.  14-28. 

About  one  hundred  years  separated  Hezekiah's  re- 
storation from  Josiah's.  Neither  was  more  than  a 
momentary  arrest  of  the  strong  tide  running  in  the 
opposite  direction ;  and  Josiah's  was  too  near  the  edge 
of  the  cataract  to  last,  or  to  avert  the  pkinge.  There 
is  nothing  more  tragical  than  the  working  of  the 
law  which  often  sets  the  children's  teeth  on  edge  by 
reason  of  the  fathers'  eating  of  sour  grapes. 

I.  The  first  point  in  this  passage  is  the  discovery 
of  the  book  of  the  Law, 

2fi£ 


vs.  u-28]     THE  NEWLY  FOUND  LAW      263 

The  book  had  been  lost  before  it  was  found.  For 
how  long  we  do  not  know,  but  the  fact  that  it  had 
been  so  carelessly  kept  is  eloquent  of  the  indifference 
of  priests  and  kings,  its  appointed  guardians.  Law- 
breakers have  a  direct  interest  in  getting  rid  of  law- 
books, just  as  shopkeepers  who  use  short  yardsticks 
and  light  weights  are  not  anxious  the  standards  should 
be  easily  accessible.  If  we  do  not  make  God's  law  our 
guide,  we  shall  wish  to  put  it  out  of  sight,  that  it  may 
not  be  our  accuser.  What  more  sad  or  certain  sign 
of  evil  can  there  be  than  that  we  had  rather  not '  hear 
what  God  the  Lord  will  speak'? 

The  straightforward  story  of  our  passage  gives  a 
most  natural  explanation  of  the  find.  Hilkiah  was 
likely  to  have  had  dark  corners  cleared  out  in  pre- 
paration for  repairs  and  in  storing  the  subscriptions, 
and  many  a  mislaid  thing  would  turn  up.  If  it  be 
possible  that  the  book  of  the  Law  should  have  been 
neglected  (and  the  religious  corruption  of  the  last 
hundred  years  makes  that  only  too  certain),  its  dis- 
covery in  some  dusty  recess  is  very  intelligible,  and 
would  not  have  been  doubted  but  for  the  exigencies 
of  a  theory.  '  Reading  between  the  lines '  is  fascinat- 
ing, but  risky;  for  the  reader  is  very  likely  uncon- 
sciously to  do  what  Hilkiah  is  said  to  have  done— 
namely,  to  invent  what  he  thinks  he  finds. 

Accepting  the  narrative  as  it  stands,  we  may  see 
in  it  a  striking  instance  of  the  indestructibleness  of 
God's  Word.  His  law  is  imperishable,  and  its  written 
embodiment  seems  as  if  it,  too,  had  a  charmed  life. 
When  we  consider  the  perils  attending  the  trans- 
mission of  ancient  manuscripts,  the  necessary  scarcity 
of  copies  before  the  invention  of  printing,  the  scatter 
ing  of  the  Jewish  people,  it  does  appear  as  if  a  divine 


264  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxxiv. 

hand  had  guarded  the  venerable  book.  How  came 
this  strange  people,  who  never  kept  their  Law,  to 
swim  through  all  their  troubles,  like  Caesar  with  his 
commentaries  between  his  teeth,  bearing  aloft  and 
dry,  the  Word  which  they  obeyed  so  badly?  'Write 
it  ...  in  a  book,  that  it  may  be  for  the  time  to  come 
for  ever  and  ever.'  The  permanence  of  the  written 
Word,  the  providence  that  has  watched  over  it,  the 
romantic  history  of  its  preservation  through  ages  of 
neglect,  and  the  imperishable  gift  to  the  world  of  an 
objective  standard  of  duty,  remaining  the  same  from 
age  to  age,  are  all  suggested  by  this  reappearance  of 
the  forgotten  Law. 

It  may  suggest,  too,  that  honest  efforts  after  re- 
formation are  usually  rewarded  by  clearer  knowledge 
of  God's  will.  If  Hilkiah  had  not  been  busy  in  setting 
wrong  things  right,  he  would  not  have  found  the 
book  in  its  dark  hiding-place.  We  are  told  that  the 
coincidence  of  the  discovery  at  the  nick  of  time  is 
suspicious.  So  it  is,  if  you  do  not  believe  in  Providence. 
If  you  do,  the  coincidence  is  but  one  instance  of  His 
sending  gifts  of  the  right  sort  at  the  right  moment. 
It  is  not  the  first  time  nor  the  last  that  the  attempt  to 
keep  God's  law  has  led  to  larger  knowledge  of  the  law. 
It  is  not  the  first  time  nor  the  last  that  God  has  sent 
to  His  faithful  servants  an  opportune  gift.  What 
the  world  calls  accidental  coincidence  deeper  wisdom 
discerns  to  be  the  touch  of  God's  hand. 

Again,  the  discovery  reminds  us  that  the  true  basis 
of  all  religious  reform  is  the  Word  of  God.  Josiah 
had  begun  to  restore  the  Temple,  but  he  did  not  know 
till  he  heard  the  Law  read  how  great  the  task  was 
which  he  had  taken  in  hand.  That  recovered  book 
gave  impulse  and  direction  to  his  efforts.    The  nearest 


vs.U-28]     THE  NEWLY  FOUND  LAW      265 

parallel  is  the  rediscovery  of  the  Bible  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  or,  if  we  may  take  one  incident  as  a  symbol 
of  the  whole,  Luther's  finding  the  dusty  Latin  Bible 
among  the  neglected  convent  books.  The  only  re- 
formation for  an  effete  or  secularised  church  is  in  its 
return  to  the  Bible.  Faded  flowers  will  lift  up  their 
heads  when  plunged  in  water.  The  old  Bible,  dis- 
covered and  applied  anew,  must  underlie  all  real 
renovation  of  dead  or  moribund  Christianity. 

II.  The  next  point  here  is  the  effect  of  the  redis- 
covered Law.  Shaphan  was  closely  connected  with 
Josiah,  as  his  office  made  him  a  confidant.  It  is 
ordinarily  taken  for  granted  that  he  and  the  other 
persons  named  in  this  lesson  formed  a  little  knot  of 
earnest  Jehovah  worshippers,  fully  sympathising  with 
the  Reformation,  and  that  among  them  lay  the  author- 
ship of  the  book.  But  we  know  nothing  about  them 
except  what  is  told  here  and  in  the  parallel  in  Kings. 
One  of  them,  Ahikam,  was  a  friend  and  protector  of 
Jeremiah,  and  Shaphan  the  scribe  was  the  father  of 
another  of  Jeremiah's  friends.  They  may  all  have  been 
in  accord  with  the  king,  or  they  may  not. 

At  all  events,  Shaphan  took  the  book  to  Josiah.  We 
can  picture  the  scene — the  deepening  awe  of  both  men 
as  the  whole  extent  of  the  nation's  departure  from  God 
became  clearer  and  clearer,  the  tremulous  tones  of  the 
reader,  and  the  silent,  fixed  attention  of  the  listener 
as  the  solemn  threatenings  came  from  Shaphan's  re- 
luctant, pallid  lips.  There  was  enough  in  them  to 
touch  a  harder  heart  than  Josiah's.  We  cannot 
suppose  that,  knowing  the  history  of  the  past,  and 
being  sufficiently  enlightened  to  'seek  after  the  God 
of  David  his  father,'  he  did  not  know  in  a  general 
way  that  sin  meant  sorrow,  and  national  disobedience 


266  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxxiv. 

national  death.  But  we  all  have  the  faculty  of  blunt- 
ing the  cutting  edge  of  truth,  especially  if  it  has  been 
familiar,  so  that  some  novelty  in  the  manner  of  its 
presentation,  or  even  its  repetition  without  novelty 
sometimes,  may  turn  commonplace  and  impotent  truth 
into  a  mighty  instrument  to  shake  and  melt.' 

So  it  seems  to  have  been  with  Josiah.  Whether  new 
or  old,  the  Word  found  him  as  it  had  never  done 
before.  The  venerable  copy  from  which  Shaphan  read, 
the  coincidence  of  its  discovery  just  then,  the  dishonour 
done  to  it  for  so  long,  may  all  have  helped  the  im- 
pression. However  it  arose,  it  was  made.  If  a  man 
will  give  God's  Word  a  fair  hearing,  and  be  honest 
with  himself,  it  will  bring  him  to  his  knees.  No  man 
rightly  uses  God's  law  who  is  not  convinced  by  it  of 
his  sin,  and  impelled  to  that  self-abased  sorrow  of 
which  the  rent  royal  robes  were  the  passionate  ex- 
pression. Josiah  was  wise  when  he  did  not  turn  his 
thoughts  to  other  people's  sins,  but  began  with  his 
own,  even  whilst  he  included  others.  The  first  function 
of  the  law  is  to  arouse  the  knowledge  of  sin,  as  Paul 
profoundly  teaches.  Without  that  penitent  knowledge 
religion  is  superficial,  and  reformation  merely  external. 
Unless  we  'abhor  ourselves,  and  repent  in  dust  and 
ashes,'  Scripture  has  not  done  its  work  on  us,  and 
all  our  reading  of  it  is  in  vain.  Nor  is  there  any  good 
reason  why  familiarity  with  it  should  weaken  its 
power.  But,  alas!  it  too  often  does.  How  many  of 
us  would  stand  in  awe  of  God's  judgments  if  we 
heard  them  for  the  first  time,  but  listen  to  them 
unmoved,  as  to  thunder  without  lightning,  merely 
because  we  know  them  so  well !  That  is  a  reason  for 
attending  to  them,  not  for  neglecting. 

Josiah's  sense  of  sin  led  him  to  long  for  a  further 


vs.  14-28]     THE  NEWLY  FOUND  LAW      267 

word  from  God;  and  so  he  called  these  attendants 
named  in  verse  20,  and  sent  them  to  'enquire  of  the 
Lord  .  .  .  concerning  the  words  of  the  book.'  What 
more  did  he  wish  to  know?  The  words  were  plain 
enough,  and  their  application  to  Israel  and  him  in- 
dubitable. Clearly,  he  could  only  wish  to  know 
whether  there  was  any  possibility  of  averting  the 
judgments,  and,  if  so,  what  was  the  means.  The 
awakened  conscience  instinctively  feels  that  threaten- 
ings  cannot  be  God's  last  words  to  it,  but  must  have 
been  given  that  they  might  not  need  to  be  fulfilled. 
We  do  not  rightly  sorrow  for  sin  unless  it  quickens 
in  us  a  desire  for  a  word  from  God  to  tell  us  how  to 
escape.  The  Law  prepares  for  the  Gospel,  and  is  in- 
complete without  it.  'The  soul  that  sinneth,  it  shall 
die,'  cannot  be  all  which  a  God  of  pity  and  love  has 
to  say.  A  faint  promise  of  life  lies  in  the  very  fact 
of  threatening  death,  faint  indeed,  but  sufficient  to 
awaken  earnest  desire  for  yet  another  word  from  the 
Lord.  We  rightly  use  the  solemn  revelations  of  God's 
law  when  we  are  driven  by  them  to  cry,  '  What  must 
I  do  to  be  saved  ? ' 

III.  So  we  come  to  the  last  point,  the  double-edged 
message  of  the  prophetess.  Josiah  does  not  seem  to 
have  told  his  messengers  where  to  go ;  but  they  knew, 
and  went  straight  to  a  very  unlikely  person,  the  wife 
of  an  obscure  man,  only  known  as  his  father's  son. 
Where  was  Jeremiah  of  Anathoth?  Perhaps  not  in 
the  city  at  the  time.  There  had  been  prophetesses 
in  Israel  before.  Miriam,  Deborah,  the  wife  of  Isaiah, 
are  instances  of  'your  daughters'  prophesying;  and 
this  embassy  to  Huldah  is  in  full  accord  with  the  high 
position  which  women  held  in  that  state,  of  which  the 
framework  was   shaped  by  God  Himself.    In  Christ 


268  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxxiv. 

Jesus  '  there  is  neither  male  nor  female,'  and  Judaism 
approximated  much  more  closely  to  that  ideal  than 
other  lands  did. 

Huldah's  message  has  two  parts :  one  the  confirma- 
tion of  the  threatenings  of  the  Law ;  one  the  assurance 
to  Josiah  of  acceptance  of  his  repentance  and  gracious 
promise  of  escape  from  the  coming  storm.  These  two 
are  precisely  equivalent  to  the  double  aspect  of  the 
Gospel,  which  completes  the  Law,  endorsing  its  sentence 
and  pointing  the  way  of  escape. 

Note  that  the  former  part  addresses  Josiah  as  'the 
man  that  sent  you,'  but  the  latter  names  him.  The 
embassy  had  probably  not  disclosed  his  name,  and 
Huldah  at  first  keeps  up  the  veil,  since  the  personality 
of  the  sender  had  nothing  to  do  with  her  answer; 
but  when  she  comes  to  speak  of  pardon  and  God's 
favour,  there  must  be  no  vagueness  in  the  destination 
of  the  message,  and  the  penitent  heart  must  be  tenderly 
bound  up  by  a  word  from  God  straight  to  itself.  The 
threatenings  are  general,  but  each  single  soul  that  is 
sorry  for  sin  may  take  as  its  very  own  the  promise 
of  forgiveness.  God's  great  '  Whosoever '  is  for  me  as 
certainly  as  if  my  name  stood  on  the  page. 

The  terrible  message  of  the  inevitableness  of  the 
destruction  hanging  over  Jerusalem  is  precisely  parallel 
with  the  burden  of  all  Jeremiah's  teaching.  It  was 
too  late  to  avert  the  fall.  The  external  judgments 
must  come  now,  for  the  emphasis  of  the  prophecy  is 
in  its  last  words,  it '  shall  not  be  quenched.'  But  that 
did  not  mean  that  repentance  was  too  late  to  alter 
the  whole  character  of  the  punishment,  which  would 
be  fatherly  chastisement  if  meekly  accepted.  So,  too, 
Jeremiah  taught,  when  he  exhorted  submission  to  the 
•  Chaldees.'    It  is  never  too  late  to  seek  mercy,  though 


vs.  14-28]      THE  FALL  OF  JUDAH  269 

it  may  be  too  late  to  hope  for  averting  the  outward 
consequences  of  sin. 

As  for  Josiah,  his  penitence  was  accepted,  and  he 
was  assured  that  he  would  be  gathered  to  his  fathers. 
That  expression,  as  is  clear  from  the  places  where  it 
occurs,  is  not  a  synonym  for  either  death  or  burial, 
fjom  both  of  which  it  is  distinguished,  but  is  a  dim 
promise  of  being  united,  beyond  the  grave,  with  the 
fathers,  who,  in  some  one  condition,  which  we  may 
call  a  place,  are  gathered  into  a  restful  company,  and 
wander  no  more  as  pilgrims  and  sojourners  in  this 
lonely  and  changeful  life. 

Josiah  died  in  battle.  Was  that  going  to  his  grave 
in  peace  ?  Surely  yes !  if,  dying,  he  felt  God's  presence, 
and  in  the  darkness  saw  a  great  light.  He  who  thus 
dies,  though  it  be  in  the  thick  of  battle,  and  with  his 
heart's  blood  pouring  from  an  arrow-wound  down  on 
the  floor  of  the  chariot,  dies  in  peace,  and  into  peace. 


THE  FALL  OF  JUDAH 

'Zedekiah  was  one  and  twenty  years  old  when  he  began  to  reign,  and  reigned 
eleven  years  in  Jerusalem.  12.  And  he  did  that  which  was  evil  in  the  sight  of  the 
Lord  his  God,  and  humbled  not  himself  before  Jeremiah  the  prophet  speaking 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Lord.  13.  And  he  also  rebelled  against  king  Nebuchadnezzar, 
who  had  made  him  swear  by  God :  but  he  stiffened  his  neck,  and  hardened  hie 
heart  from  turning  unto  the  Lord  God  of  Israel.  14.  Moreover  all  the  chief  of  the 
priests,  and  the  people,  transgressed  very  much  after  all  the  abominations  of  the 
heathen  ;  and  polluted  the  house  of  the  Lord  which  he  had  hallowed  in  Jerusalem. 
15.  And  the  Lord  God  of  their  fathers  sent  to  them  by  His  messengers,  rising  up 
betimes,  and  sending;  because  He  had  compassion  on  His  people,  and  on  His 
dwelling-place :  16.  But  they  mocked  the  messengers  of  God,  and  despised  His 
words,  and  misused  His  prophets,  until  the  wrath  of  the  Lord  arose  against  His 
people,  till  there  was  no  remedy.  17.  Therefore  he  brought  upon  them  the  king  of 
the  Chaldees,  who  slew  their  young  men  with  the  sword  in  the  house  of  their 
sanctuary,  and  had  no  compassion  upon  young  man  or  maiden,  old  man,  or  him 
that  stooped  for  age :  he  gave  them  all  into  his  hand.  18.  And  all  the  vessels  of  the 
house  of  God,  great  and  small,  and  the  treasures  of  the  house  of  the  Lord,  and  the 
treasures  of  the  king,  and  of  his  princes ;  all  these  he  brought  to  Babylon.  19.  And 
they  burnt  the  house  of  God,  and  brake  down  the  wall  of  Jerusalem,  and  burnt 
all  the  palaces  thereof  with  fire,  and  destroyed  all  the  goodly  vessels  thereof.  20.  And 
them  that  had  escaped  from  the  sword  carried  he  away  to  Babylon ;  where  they 


270  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxxvi. 

were  servants  to  him  and  his  sons  until  the  reign  of  the  kingdom  of  Persia :  21.  To 
fulfil  the  word  of  the  Lord  by  the  mouth  of  Jeremiah,  until  the  land  had  enjoyed 
her  sabbaths :  for  as  long  as  she  lay  desolate  she  kept  sabbath,  to  fulfil  threescore 
and  ten  years.'— 2  Chkon.  xxxvi.  11-21. 

Bigness  is  not  greatness,  nor  littleness  smallness. 
Nebuchadnezzar's  conquest  of  Judah  was,  in  his  eyes, 
one  of  the  least  important  of  his  many  victories,  but 
it  is  the  only  one  of  them  which  survives  in  the  world's 
memory  and  keeps  his  name  as  a  household  word. 
The  Jews  were  a  mere  handful,  and  their  country  a 
narrow  strip  of  land  between  the  desert  and  the  sea ; 
but  little  Judaea,  like  little  Greece,  has  taught  the 
world.  The  tragedy  of  its  fall  has  importance  quite  dis- 
proportioned  to  its  apparent  magnitude.  Our  passage 
brings  together  Judah's  sin  and  Judah's  punishment, 
and  we  shall  best  gather  the  lessons  of  its  fall  by 
following  the  order  of  the  text. 

Consider  the  sin.  There  is  nothing  more  remark- 
able than  the  tone  in  which  the  chronicler,  like  all  the 
Old  Testament  writers,  deals  with  the  national  sin. 
Patriotic  historians  make  it  a  point  of  pride  and  duty 
to  gloss  over  their  country's  faults,  but  these  singular 
narrators  paint  them  as  strongly  as  they  can.  Their 
love  of  their  country  impels  them  to  '  make  known  to 
Israel  its  transgression  and  to  Judah  its  sin.'  There  are 
tears  in  their  eyes,  as  who  can  doubt  ?  But  there  is  no 
faltering  in  their  voices  as  they  speak.  A  higher  feel- 
ing than  misguided  '  patriotism '  moves  them.  Loyalty 
to  Israel's  God  forces  them  to  deal  honestly  with 
Israel's  sin.  That  is  the  highest  kind  of  love  of 
country,  and  might  well  be  commended  to  loud- 
mouthed '  patriots '  in  modern  lands. 

Look  at  the  piled-up  clauses  of  the  long  indictment 
of  Judah  in  verses  12  to  16.  Slow,  passionless,  un- 
sparing, the  catalogue  enumerates  the  whole  black  list. 


vs.  11-21]      THE  FALL  OF  JUDAH  271 

It  is  like  the  long-drawn  blast  of  the  angel  of  judg- 
ment's trumpet.  Any  trace  of  heated  emotion  would 
have  weakened  the  impression.  The  nation's  sin  was 
so  crimson  as  to  need  no  heightening  of  colour.  With 
like  judicial  calmness,  with  like  completeness,  omitting 
nothing,  does  '  the  book,'  which  will  one  day  be  opened, 
set  down  every  man's  deeds,  and  he  will  be  'judged 
according  to  the  things  that  are  written  in  this  book.' 
Some  of  us  will  find  our  page  sad  reading. 

But  the  points  brought  out  in  this  indictment  are 
instructive.  Judah's  idolatry  and  'trespass  after  all 
the  abominations  of  the  heathen'  is,  of  course,  pro- 
minent, but  the  spirit  which  led  to  their  idolatry, 
rather  than  the  idolatry  itself,  is  dwelt  on.  Zedekiah's 
doing  'evil  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord'  is  regarded  as 
aggravated  by  his  not  humbling  himself  before  Jere- 
miah, and  the  head  and  front  of  his  offending  is  that 
'he  stiffened  his  neck  and  hardened  his  heart  from 
turning  unto  the  Lord.'  Similarly,  the  people's  sin 
reaches  its  climax  in  their  '  mocking '  and  '  scoffing '  at 
the  prophets  and  '  despising '  God's  words  by  them.  So 
then,  an  evil  life  has  its  roots  in  an  alienated  heart, 
and  the  source  of  all  sin  is  an  obstinate  self-will. 
That  is  the  sulphur-spring  from  which  nothing  but 
unwholesome  streams  can  flow,  and  the  greatest  of  all 
sins  is  refusing  to  hear  God's  voice  when  He  speaks 
to  us. 

Further,  this  indictment  brings  out  the  patient  love 
of  God  seeking,  in  spite  of  all  their  deafness,  to  find  a 
way  to  the  sinners'  ears  and  hearts.  In  a  bold  trans- 
ference to  Him  of  men's  ways,  He  is  said  to  have 
*  risen  early'  to  send  the  prophets.  Surely  that  means 
earnest  effort.  The  depths  of  God's  heart  are  disclosed 
when  we  are  bidden  to  think  of  His  compassion  as  the 


272  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxxvi. 

motive  for  the  prophet's  messages  and  threatenings. 
What  a  wonderful  and  heart-melting  revelation  of 
God's  placableness,  wistful  hoping  against  hope,  and 
reluctance  to  abandon  the  most  indurated  sinner,  is 
given  in  that  centuries-long  conflict  of  the  patient  God 
with  treacherous  Israel!  That  divine  charity  suffered 
long  and  was  kind,  endured  all  things  and  hoped  all 
things. 

Consider  the  punishment.  The  tragic  details  of  the 
punishment  are  enumerated  with  the  same  complete- 
ness and  suppression  of  emotion  as  those  of  the  sin.  The 
fact  that  all  these  were  divine  judgments  brings  the 
chronicler  to  the  Psalmist's  attitude.  '  I  was  dumb,  I 
opened  not  my  mouth  because  Thou  didst  it.'  Sorrow 
and  pity  have  their  place,  but  the  awed  recognition  of 
God's  hand  outstretched  in  righteous  retribution  must 
come  first.  Modern  sentimentalists,  who  are  so  tender- 
hearted as  to  be  shocked  at  the  Christian  teachings  of 
judgment,  might  learn  a  lesson  here. 

The  first  point  to  note  is  that  a  time  arrives  when 
even  God  can  hope  for  no  amendment  and  is  driven  to 
change  His  methods.  His  patience  is  not  exhausted, 
but  man's  obstinacy  makes  another  treatment  inevit- 
able. God  lavished  benefits  and  pleadings  for  long 
years  in  vain,  till  He  saw  that  there  was  '  no  remedy.' 
Only  then  did  He,  as  if  reluctantly  forced,  do  'His 
work,  His  strange  work.'  Behold,  therefore,  the  '  good- 
ness and  severity '  of  God,  goodness  in  His  long  delay, 
severity  in  the  final  blow,  and  learn  that  His  purpose 
is  the  same  though  His  methods  are  opposite. 

To  the  chronicler  God  is  the  true  Actor  in  human 
affairs.  Nebuchadnezzar  thought  of  his  conquest  as 
won  by  his  own  arm.  Secular  historians  treat  the  fall 
of  Zedekiah  as  simply  the  result  of  the  political  con- 


vs.  11-21]      THE  FALL  OF  JUDAH  273 

ditions  of  the  time,  and  sometimes  seem  to  think 
that  it  could  not  be  a  divine  judgment  because  it 
was  brought  about  by  natural  causes.  But  this  old 
chronicler  sees  deeper,  and  to  him,  as  to  us,  if  we  are 
wise, '  the  history  of  the  world  is  the  judgment  of  the 
world.'  The  Nebuchadnezzars  are  God's  axes  with 
which  He  hews  down  fruitless  trees.  They  are  re- 
sponsible for  their  acts,  but  they  are  His  instruments, 
and  it  is  His  hand  that  wields  them. 

The  iron  band  that  binds  sin  and  suffering  is  dis- 
closed in  Judah's  fall.  We  cannot  allege  that  the  same 
close  connection  between  godlessness  and  national 
disaster  is  exemplified  now  as  it  was  in  Israel.  Nor 
can  we  contend  that  for  individuals  suffering  is  always 
the  fruit  of  sin.  But  it  is  still  true  that  '  righteousness 
exalteth  a  nation,'  and  that  '  by  the  soul  only  are  the 
nations  great,'  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word.  To  depart 
from  God  is  always  '  a  bitter  and  an  evil  thing '  for 
communities  and  individuals,  however  sweet  draughts 
of  outward  prosperity  may  for  a  time  mask  the  bitter- 
ness. Not  armies  nor  fleets,  not  ships,  colonies  and 
commerce,  not  millionaires  and  trusts,  not  politicians 
and  diplomatists,  but  the  fear  of  the  Lord  and  the 
keeping  of  His  commandments,  are  the  true  life  of  a 
nation.  If  Christian  men  lived  up  to  the  ideal  set 
them  by  Jesus,  '  Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  land,'  and  sought 
more  earnestly  and  wisely  to  leaven  their  nation,  they 
would  be  doing  more  than  any  others  to  guarantee  its 
perpetual  prosperity. 

The  closing  words  of  this  chapter,  not  included  in 
the  passage,  are  significant.  They  are  the  first  words 
of  the  Book  of  Ezra.  Whoever  put  them  here  perhaps 
wished  to  show  a  far-off  dawn  following  the  stormy 
sunset.     He  opens  a  'door  of  hope'  in  'the  valley  of 


274  SECOND  BOOK  OF  CHRONICLES  [xxxvi. 

trouble.'  It  is  an  Old  Testament  version  of  '  God  hath 
not  cast  away  His  people  whom  He  foreknew.'  It 
throws  a  beam  of  light  on  the  black  last  page  of  the 
chronicle,  and  reveals  that  God's  chastisement  was  in 
love,  that  it  was  meant  for  discipline,  not  for  destruc- 
tion, that  it  was  educational,  and  that  the  rod  was 
burned  when  the  lesson  had  been  learned.  It  was 
learned,  for  the  Captivity  cured  the  nation  of  hanker- 
ing after  idolatry,  and  whatever  defects  it  brought 
back  from  Babylon,  it  brought  back  a  passionate 
abhorrence  of  all  the  gods  of  the  nations. 


EZRA 

THE  EVE  OF  THE  RESTORATION 

'  Now  in  the  first  year  of  Cyrus  king  of  Persia,  that  the  word  of  the  Lord 
by  the  mouth  of  Jeremiah  might  be  fulfilled,  the  Lord  stirred  up  the  spirit  of 
Cyrus  king  of  Persia,  that  he  made  a  proclamation  throughout  all  his  kingdom, 
and  put  it  also  in  writing,  saying,  2.  Thus  saith  Cyrus  king  of  Persia,  The  Lord  God 
of  heaven  hath  given  me  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth  :  and  He  hath  charged  me 
to  build  Him  an  house  at  Jerusalem,  which  is  in  Judah.  3.  Who  is  there  among  you 
of  all  His  people?  his  God  be  with  him,  and  let  him  go  up  to  Jerusalem,  which  is 
in  Judah,  and  build  the  house  of  the  Lord  God  of  Israel  (He  is  the  God),  which  is 
in  Jerusalem.  4.  And  whosoever  remaineth  in  any  place  where  he  sojourneth,  let 
1he  men  of  his  place  help  him  with  silver,  and  with  gold,  and  with  goods,  and 
with  beasts,  besides  the  freewill  offering  for  the  house  of  God  that  is  in  Jerusalem, 
o.  Then  rose  up  the  chief  of  the  fathers  of  Judah  and  Benjamin,  and  the  priests,  and 
the  Levites,  with  all  them  whose  spirit  God  had  raised,  to  go  up  to  build  the  house 
of  the  Lord  which  is  in  Jerusalem.  6.  And  all  they  that  were  about  them  strength- 
ened their  hands  with  vessels  of  silver,  with  gold,  with  goods,  and  with  beasts, 
and  with  precious  things,  besides  all  that  was  willingly  offered.  7.  Also  Cyrus  the 
king  brought  forth  the  vessels  of  the  house  of  the  Lord,  which  Nebuchadnezzar 
had  brought  forth  out  of  Jerusalem,  and  had  put  them  in  the  house  of  his  gods  ; 
8.  Even  those  did  Cyrus  king  of  Persia  bring  forth  by  the  hand  of  Mithredath  the 
treasurer,  and  numbered  them  unto  Sheshbazzar,  the  prince  of  Judah.  9.  And  this 
is  the  number  of  them :  thirty  chargers  of  gold,  a  thousand  chargers  of  silver, 
nine  and  twenty  knives,  10.  Thirty  basons  of  gold,  silver  basons  of  a  second  sort 
four  hiindred  and  ten,  and  other  vessels  a  thousand.  11.  All  the  vessels  of  gold  and 
of  silver  were  five  thousand  and  four  hundred.  All  these  did  Sheshbazzar  bring 
up  with  them  of  the  captivity  that  were  brought  up  from  Babylon  unto  Jerusalem.' 
— EZKA  i.  1-11. 

Cyrus  captured  Babylon  538  B.C.,  and  the  '  first  year ' 
here  is  the  first  after  that  event.  The  predicted  seventy 
years'  captivity  had  nearly  run  out,  having  in  part 
done  their  work  on  the  exiles.  Colours  burned  in  on 
china  are  permanent ;  and  the  furnace  of  bondage  had, 
at  least,  effected  this,  that  it  fixed  monotheism  for  ever 
in  the  inmost  substance  of  the  Jewish  people.  But  the 
bulk  of  them  seem  to  have  had  little  of  either  religious 
or  patriotic  enthusiasm,  and  preferred  Babylonia  to 
Judea.    We  are  here  told  of  the  beginning  of  the  return 

276 


276  EZRA  [CH.  i. 

of  a  portion  of  the  exiles  —  forty-two  thousand,  in 
round  numbers. 

'  The  Lord  stirred  up  the  spirit  of  Cyrus.'  That  un- 
veils the  deepest  cause  of  what  fell  into  place,  to  the 
superficial  observers,  as  one  among  many  political 
events  of  similar  complexion.  We  find  among  the 
inscriptions  a  cylinder  written  by  order  of  Cyrus, 
which  shows  that  he  reversed  the  Babylonian  policy 
of  deporting  conquered  nations.  '  All  their  peoples,' 
says  he,  in  reference  to  a  number  of  nations  of  whom 
he  found  members  in  exile  in  Babylonia,  '  I  assembled 
and  restored  to  their  lands  and  the  gods  .  .  .  whom 
Nabonidos  .  . .  had  brought  into  Babylon,  I  settled  in 
peace  in  their  sanctuaries'  (Sayce,  Fresh  Light  from  the 
Ancient  Monuments,  p.  148).  It  was,  then,  part  of  a 
wider  movement,  which  sent  back  Zerubbabel  and  his 
people  to  Jerusalem,  and  began  the  rebuilding  of  the 
Temple.  No  doubt,  Cyrus  had  seen  that  the  old  plan 
simply  brought  an  element  of  possible  rebellion  into 
the  midst  of  the  country,  and  acted  on  grounds  of 
political  prudence. 

But  our  passage  digs  deeper  to  find  the  true  cause. 
Cyrus  was  God's  instrument,  and  the  statesman's  in- 
sight was  the  result  of  God's  illumination.  The  divine 
causality  moves  men,  when  they  move  themselves.  It 
was  not  only  in  the  history  of  the  chosen  people  that 
God's  purpose  is  wrought  out  by  more  or  less  conscious 
and  willing  instruments.  The  principle  laid  down  by 
the  writer  of  this  book  is  of  universal  application,  and 
the  true  *  philosophy  of  history '  must  recognise  as 
underlying  all  other  so-called  causes  and  forces  the 
one  uncaused  Cause,  of  whose  purposes  kings  and 
politicians  are  the  executants,  even  while  they  freely 
act  according  to  their  own  judgments,  and,  it  may  be, 


vs.  1-11]    EVE  OF  THE  RESTORATION      277 

in  utter  unconsciousness  of  Him.  It  concerns  our 
tranquillity  and  hopefulness,  in  the  contemplation  of 
the  bewildering  maze  and  often  heart  -  breaking 
tragedy  of  mundane  affairs,  to  hold  fast  by  the  con- 
viction that  God's  unseen  Hand  moves  the  pieces  on  the 
board,  and  presides  over  all  the  complications.  The 
difference  between  '  sacred '  and  *  profane '  history  is 
not  that  one  is  under  His  direct  control,  and  the  other 
is  not.  What  was  true  of  Cyrus  and  his  policy  is 
as  true  of  England.  Would  that  politicians  and  all 
men  recognised  the  fact  as  clearly  as  this  historian 
did! 

I.  Cyrus's  proclamation  sounds  as  if  he  were  a  Jeho- 
vah-worshipper, but  it  is  to  be  feared  that  his  religion 
was  of  a  very  accommodating  kind.  It  used  to  be  said 
that,  as  a  Persian,  he  was  a  monotheist,  and  would  con- 
sequently be  in  sympathy  with  the  Jews ;  but  the  same 
cylinder  already  quoted  shatters  that  idea,  and  shows 
him  to  have  been  a  polytheist,  ready  to  worship  the 
gods  of  Babylon.  He  there  ascribes  his  conqu«st  to 
'  Merodach,  the  great  lord,'  and  distinctly  calls  himself 
that  god's  '  worshipper.'  Like  other  polytheists,  he 
had  room  in  his  pantheon  for  the  gods  of  other 
nations,  and  admitted  into  it  the  deities  of  the  con- 
quered peoples. 

The  use  of  the  name  *  Jehovah '  would,  no  doubt,  be 
most  simply  accounted  for  by  the  supposition  that 
Cyrus  recognised  the  sole  divinity  of  the  God  of  Israel; 
but  that  solution  conflicts  with  all  that  is  known  of 
him,  and  with  his  characterisation  in  Isaiah  xlv.  as 
'not  knowing'  Jehovah.  More  probably,  his  confes- 
sion of  Jehovah  as  the  God  of  heaven  was  consistent 
in  his  mind  with  a  similar  confession  as  to  Bel- 
Merodach  or  the  supreme  god   of  any  other  of  the 


278  EZRA  [CH.  i. 

conquered  nations.  There  is,  however  no  improba- 
bility in  the  supposition  that  the  prophecies  concerning 
him  in  Isaiah  xlv.  may  have  been  brought  to  his  know- 
ledge, and  be  referred*  to  in  the  proclamation  as  the 
'  charge '  given  to  him  to  build  Jehovah's  Temple.  But 
we  must  not  exaggerate  the  depth  or  exclusiveness  of 
his  belief  in  the  God  of  the  Jews. 

Cyrus's  profession  of  faith,  then,  is  an  example  of 
official  and  skin-deep  religion,  of  which  public  and 
individual  life  afford  plentiful  instances  in  all  ages  and 
faiths.  If  we  are  to  take  their  own  word  for  it,  most 
great  conquerors  have  been  very  religious  men,  and 
have  asked  a  blessing  over  many  a  bloody  feast.  All 
religions  are  equally  true  to  cynical  politicians,  who 
are  ready  to  join  in  worshipping  '  Jehovah,  Jove,  or 
Lord,'  as  may  suit  their  policy.  Nor  is  it  only  in  high 
places  that  such  loosely  worn  professions  are  found. 
Perhaps  there  is  no  region  of  life  in  which  insincerity, 
which  is  often  quite  unconscious,  is  so  rife  as  in  regard 
to  religious  belief.  But  unless  my  religion  is  every- 
thing, it  is  nothing.  'AH  in  all,  or  not  at  all,'  is  the 
requirement  of  the  great  Lover  of  souls.  What  a 
winnowing  of  chaff  from  wheat  there  would  be,  if 
that  test  could  visibly  separate  the  mass  which  is 
gathered  on  His  threshing-floor,  the  Church ! 

Cyrus's  belief  in  Jehovah  illustrates  the  attitude 
which  was  natural  to  a  polytheist,  and  is  so  difficult 
for  us  to  enter  into.  A  vague  belief  in  One  Supreme, 
above  all  other  gods,  and  variously  named  by  different 
nations,  is  buried  beneath  mountains  of  myths  about 
lesser  gods,  but  sometimes  comes  to  light  in  many 
pagan  minds.  This  blind  creed,  if  creed  it  can  be  called, 
is  joined  with  the  recognition  of  deities  belonging 
to  each  nation,  whose  worship  is  to  be  co-extensive 


vs.  Ml]    EVE  OF  THE  RESTORATION      279 

with  the  race  of  which  they  are  patrons,  and  who  may 
be  absorbed  into  the  pantheon  of  a  conqueror,  just 
as  a  vanquished  king  may  be  allowed  an  honourable 
captivity  at  the  victor's  capital.  Thus  Cyrus  could  in 
a  sense  worship  Jehovah,  the  God  of  Israel,  without 
thereby  being  rebellious  to  Merodach. 

There  are  people,  even  among  so-called  Christians, 
who  try  the  same  immoral  and  impossible  division 
of  what  must  in  its  very  nature  be  wholly  giyen  to 
One  Supreme.  To  '  serve  God  and  mammon '  is  demon- 
strably an  absurd  attempt.  The  love  and  trust  and 
obedience  which  are  worthy  of  Him  must  be  whole- 
hearted, whole-souled,  whole-willed.  It  is  as  impossible 
to  love  God  with  part  of  one's  self  as  it  is  for  a  husband 
to  love  his  wife  with  half  his  heart,  and  another  woman 
with  the  rest.  To  divide  love  is  to  slay  it.  Cyrus  had 
some  kind  of  belief  in  Jehovah ;  but  his  own  words,  so 
wonderfully  recovered  in  the  inscription  already  re- 
ferred to,  proved  that  he  had  not  listened  to  the  com- 
mand, '  Him  only  shalt  thou  serve.'  That  command 
grips  us  as  closely  as  it  did  the  Jews,  and  is  as  truly 
broken  by  thousands  calling  themselves  Christians  as 
by  any  idolaters. 

The  substance  of  the  proclamation  is  a  permission  to 
return  to  any  one  who  wished  to  do  so,  a  sanction  of  the 
rebuilding  of  the  Temple,  and  an  order  to  the  native 
inhabitants  to  render  help  in  money,  goods,  and  beasts. 
A  further  contribution  towards  the  building  was  sug- 
gested as  '  a  free-will  offering.'  The  return,  then,  was 
not  to  be  at  the  expense  of  the  king,  nor  was  any  tax 
laid  on  for  it ;  but  neighbourly  goodwill,  born  of 
seventy  years  of  association,  was  invoked,  and,  as  we 
find,  not  in  vain.  God  had  given  the  people  favour  in 
the  eyes  of  those  who  had  carried  them  captive. 


280  EZRA  [CH.  I. 

II.  The  long  years  of  residence  in  Babylonia  had 
weakened  the  homesickness  which  the  first  generation 
of  captives  had,  no  doubt,  painfully  experienced,  and 
but  a  small  part  of  them  cared  to  avail  themselves 
of  the  opportunity  of  return.  One  reason  is  frankly 
given  by  Josephus :  '  Many  remained  in  Babylon,  not 
wishing  to  leave  their  possessions  behind  them.'  '  The 
heads  of  the  fathers'  houses  [who  may  have  exercised 
some  sort  of  government  among  the  captives],  the 
priests  and  Levites,'  made  the  bulk  of  the  emigrants ; 
but  in  each  class  it  was  only  those  *  whose  spirit  God 
had  stirred  up '  (as  he  had  done  Cyrus')  that  were 
devout  or  patriotic  enough  to  face  the  wrench  of 
removal  and  the  difficulties  of  repeopling  a  wasted 
land.  There  was  nothing  to  tempt  any  others,  and  the 
brave  little  band  had  need  of  all  their  fortitude.  But 
no  heart  in  which  the  flame  of  devotion  burned,  or  in 
which  were  felt  the  drawings  of  that  passionate  love 
of  the  city  and  soil  where  God  dwelt  (which  in  the  best 
days  of  the  nation  was  inseparable  from  devotion), 
could  remain  behind.  The  departing  contingent,  then, 
were  the  best  part  of  the  whole ;  and  the  lingerers 
were  held  back  by  love  of  ease,  faint-heartedness,  love 
of  wealth,  and  the  like  ignoble  motives. 

How  many  of  us  have  had  great  opportunities 
offered  for  service,  which  we  have  let  slip  in  like 
manner !  To  have  doors  opened  \vhich  we  are  too  lazy, 
too  cowardly,  too  much  afraid  of  self-denial,  to  enter,  is 
the  tragedy  and  the  crime  of  many  a  life.  It  is  easier 
to  live  among  the  low  levels  of  the  plain  of  Babylon, 
than  to  take  to  the  dangers  and  privations  of  the  weary 
tramp  across  the  desert.  The  ruins  of  Jerusalem  are  a 
much  less  comfortable  abode  than  the  well-furnished 
houses  which  have  to  be  left.     Prudence  says,  '  Be  con- 


vs.  1-11]     EVE  OF  THE  RESTORATION      281 

tent  where  you  are,  and  let  other  people  take  the 
trouble  of  such  mad  schemes  as  rebuilding  the  Temple.' 
A  thousand  excuses  sing  in  our  ears,  and  we  let  the 
moment  in  which  alone  some  noble  resolve  is  possible 
slide  past  us,  and  the  rest  of  life  is  empty  of  another 
such.  Neglected  opportunities,  unobeyed  calls  to  high 
deeds,  we  all  have  in  our  lives.  The  saddest  of  all 
words  is,  *  It  might  have  been.*  How  much  wiser, 
happier,  nobler,  were  the  daring  souls  that  rose  to  the 
occasion,  and  flung  ease  and  wealth  and  companionship 
behind  them,  because  they  heard  the  divine  command 
couched  in  the  royal  permission,  and  humbly  answered, 
'  Here  am  I ;  send  me  ' ! 

III.  The  third  point  in  the  passage  is  singular — the 
inventory  of  the  Temple  vessels  returned  by  Cyrus. 
As  to  its  particulars,  we  need  only  note  that  Shesh- 
bazzar  is  the  same  as  Zerubbabel ;  that  the  exact  trans- 
lation of  some  of  the  names  of  the  vessels  is  doubtful ; 
and  that  the  numbers  given  under  each  head  do  not 
correspond  with  the  sum  total,  the  discrepancy  indi- 
cating error  somewhere  in  the  numbers. 

But  is  not  this  dry  enumeration  a  strange  item  to 
come  in  the  forefront  of  the  narrative  of  such  an 
event?  We  might  have  expected  some  kind  of  pro- 
duction of  the  enthusiasm  of  the  returning  exiles, 
some  account  of  how  they  were  sent  on  their  journey, 
something  which  we  should  have  felt  worthier  of  the 
occasion  than  a  list  of  bowls  and  nine-and-twenty 
knives.  But  it  is  of  a  piece  with  the  whole  of  the  first 
part  of  this  Book  of  Ezra,  which  is  mostly  taken  up 
with  a  similar  catalogue  of  the  members  of  the  expedi- 
tion. The  list  here  indicates  the  pride  and  joy  with 
which  the  long  hidden  and  often  desecrated  vessels 
were  received.    We   can  see  the  priests  and  Levites 


282  EZRA  [CH.  iii. 

gazing  at  them  as  they  were  brought  forth,  their 
hearts,  and  perhaps  their  eyes,  filling  with  sacred 
memories.  The  Lord  had  '  turned  again  the  captivity 
of  Zion,'  and  these  sacred  vessels  lay  there,  glittering 
before  them,  to  assure  them  that  they  were  not  as 
*  them  that  dream.'  Small  things  become  great  when 
they  are  the  witnesses  of  a  great  thing. 

We  must  remember,  too,  how  strong  a  hold  the  ex- 
ternals of  worship  had  on  the  devout  Jew.  His  faith 
was  much  more  tied  to  form  than  ours  ought  to  be,  and 
the  restoration  of  the  sacrificial  implements  as  a  pledge 
of  the  re-establishment  of  the  Temple  worship  would 
seem  the  beginning  of  a  new  epoch  of  closer  relation  to 
Jehovah.  It  is  almost  within  the  lifetime  of  living 
men  that  all  Scotland  was  thrilled  with  emotion  by  the 
discovery,  in  a  neglected  chamber,  of  a  chest  in  which 
lay,  forgotten,  the  crown  and  sceptre  of  the  Stuarts. 
A  like  wave  of  feeling  passed  over  the  exiles  as  they 
had  given  back  to  their  custody  these  Temple  vessels. 
Sacreder  ones  are  given  into  our  hands,  to  carry  across 
a  more  dangerous  desert.  Let  us  hear  the  charge,  '  Be 
ye  clean,  that  bear  the  vessels  of  the  Lord,'  and  see  that 
we  carry  them,  untarnished  and  unlost,  to  *  the  house 
of  the  Lord  which  is  in  Jerusalem.' 


ALTAR  AND  TEMPLE 

'  And  when  the  seventh  month  was  come,  and  the  children  of  Israel  were  in  the 
cities,  the  people  gathered  themselves  together  as  one  man  to  Jerusalem.  2.  Then 
stood  up  Jeshua  the  son  of  Jozadak,  and  his  brethren  the  priests,  and  Zerubbabel 
the  son  of  Shealtiel,  and  his  brethren,  and  builded  the  altar  of  the  God  of  Israel,  to 
offer  burnt  offerings  thereon,  as  it  is  written  in  the  law  of  Moses  the  man  of  God. 
3.  And  they  set  the  altar  upon  his  bases  ;  for  fear  was  upon  them  because  of  the 
people  of  those  countries :  and  they  offered  burnt  offerings  thereon  unto  the  Lord, 
even  burnt  offerings  morning  and  evening.  4.  They  kept  also  the  feast  of  tabernacles, 
as  it  is  written,  and  offered  the  daily  burnt  offerings  by  number,  according  to  the 
custom,  as  the  duty  of  every  day  required ;  5.  And  afterward  offered  the  continual 


vs.  1-13]  ALTAR  AND  TEMPLE  283 

burnt  oflFering,  both  of  the  new  moon«,  and  of  all  the  set  feasts  of  the  Lord  that 
were  consecrated,  and  of  every  one  that  willingly  offered  a  freewill  offering  unto 
the  Lord.  6.  From  the  first  day  of  the  seventh  month  began  they  to  offer  burnt  offer- 
ings unto  the  Lord.  But  the  foundation  of  the  Temple  of  the  Lord  was  not  yet 
laid.  7.  They  gave  money  also  unto  the  masons,  and  to  the  carpenters  ;  and  meat, 
and  drink,  and  oil,  unto  them  of  Zidon,  and  to  them  of  Tyre,  to  bring  cedar  trees 
from  Lebanon  to  the  sea  of  Joppa,  according  to  the  grant  that  they  had  of  Cyrus 
king  of  Persia.  8.  Now  in  the  second  year  of  their  coming  unto  the  house  of  God  at 
Jerusalem,  in  the  second  month,  began  Zerubbabel  the  son  of  Shealtiel,  and 
Jeshua  the  son  of  Jozadak,  and  the  remnant  of  their  brethren  the  priests  and  the 
Levites,  and  all  they  that  were  come  out  of  the  captivity  unto  Jerusalem;  and 
appointed  the  Levites,  from  twenty  years  old  and  upward,  to  set  forward  the  work 
of  the  house  of  the  Lord.  9.  Then  stood  Jeshua  with  his  sons  and  his  brethren, 
Kadmiel  and  his  sons,  the  sons  of  Judah,  together,  to  set  forward  the  workmen  in 
the  house  of  God :  the  sons  of  Henadad,  with  their  sons  and  their  brethren  the 
Levites.  10.  And  when  the  builders  laid  the  foundation  of  the  Temple  of  the  Lord, 
they  set  the  priests  in  their  apparel  with  trumpets,  and  the  Levites,  the  sons  of 
Asaph,  with  cymbals,  to  praise  the  Lord,  after  the  ordinance  of  David  king  of 
Israel.  11.  And  they  sang  together  by  course  in  praising  and  giving  thanks  unto  the 
Lord ;  because  He  is  good,  for  His  mercy  endureth  for  ever  toward  Israel.  And 
all  the  people  shouted  with  a  great  shout,  when  they  praised  the  Lord,  because  the 
foundation  of  the  house  of  the  Lord  was  laid.  12.  But  many  of  the  priests  and'Le  vites 
and  chief  of  the  fathers,  who  were  ancient  men,  that  had  seen  the  first  house, 
when  the  foundation  of  this  house  was  laid  before  their  eyes,  wept  with  a  loud 
voice ;  and  many  shouted  aloud  for  joy :  13.  So  that  the  people  could  not  discern  the 
noise  of  the  shout  of  joy  from  the  noise  of  the  weeping  of  the  people :  for  the 
people  shouted  with  a  loud  shout,  and  the  noise  was  heard  afar  off.'— Ezka  iii. 
1-13. 

What  an  opportunity  of  'picturesque'  writing  the 
author  of  this  book  has  missed  by  his  silence  about  the 
incidents  of  the  march  across  the  dreary  levels  from 
Babylon  to  the  verge  of  Syria !  But  the  very  silence  is 
eloquent.  It  reveals  the  purpose  of  the  book,  which  is 
to  tell  of  the  re-establishment  of  the  Temple  and  its 
worship.  No  doubt  the  tone  of  the  whole  is  somewhat 
prosaic,  and  indicative  of  an  age  in  which  the  externals 
of  worship  bulked  largely ;  but  still  the  central  point 
of  the  narrative  was  really  the  centre-point  of  the 
events.  The  austere  simplicity  of  biblical  history  shows 
the  real  points  of  importance  better  than  more  artistic 
elaboration  would  d  o. 

This  passage  has  two  main  incidents — the  renewal  of 
the  sacrifices,  and  the  beginning  of  rebuilding  the 
Temple. 

The  date  given  in  verse  1  is  significant.  The  first  day 
of  the  seventh  month  was  the  commencement  of  the 


284  EZRA  [CH.  III. 

great  festival  of  tabernacles,  the  most  joyous  feast  of 
the  year,  crowded  with  reminiscences  from  the  remote 
antiquity  of  the  Exodus,  and  from  the  dedication  of 
Solomon's  Temple.  How  long  had  passed  since  Cyrus' 
decree  had  been  issued  we  do  not  know,  nor  whether 
his  '  first  year '  was  reckoned  by  the  same  chronology 
as  the  Jewish  year,  of  which  we  here  arrive  at  the 
seventh  month.  But  the  journey  across  the  desert  must 
have  taken  some  months,  and  the  previous  prepara- 
tions could  not  have  been  suddenly  got  through,  so  that 
there  can  have  been  but  a  short  time  between  the 
arrival  in  Judea  and  the  gathering  together  '  as  one 
man  to  Jerusalem.' 

There  was  barely  interval  enough  for  the  returning 
exiles  to  take  possession  of  their  ancestral  fields  before 
they  were  called  to  leave  them  unguarded  and  hasten 
to  the  desolate  city.  Surely  their  glad  and  unanimous 
obedience  to  the  summons,  or,  as  it  may  even  have 
been,  their  spontaneous  assemblage  unsummoned,  is  no 
small  token  of  their  ardour  of  devotion,  even  if  they 
were  somewhat  slavishly  tied  to  externals.  It  would 
take  a  good  deal  to  draw  a  band  of  new  settlers  in  our 
days  to  leave  their  lots  and  set  to  putting  up  a  church 
before  they  had  built  themselves  houses. 

The  leaders  of  the  band  of  returned  exiles  demand 
a  brief  notice.  They  are  Jeshua,  or  Joshua,  and  Zerub- 
babel.  In  verse  2  the  ecclesiastical  dignitary  comes 
first,  but  in  verse  8  the  civil.  Similarly  in  Ezra  ii.  2, 
Zerubbabel  precedes  Jeshua.  In  Haggai,  the  priest  is 
pre-eminent ;  in  Zechariah  the  prince.  The  truth  seems 
to  be  that  each  was  supreme  in  his  own  department, 
and  that  they  understood  each  other  cordially,  or, 
Zechariah  says,  '  the  counsel  of  peace '  was  *  between 
them  both.'    It  is  sometimes  bad  for  the  people  when 


vs.  1-13]         ALTAR  AND  TEMPLE  285 

priests  and  rulers  lay  their  heads  together;  but  it  is 
even  worse  when  they  pull  different  ways,  and  subjects 
are  torn  in  two  by  conflicting  obligations. 

Jeshua  was  the  grandson  of  Seraiah,  the  unfortunate 
high-priest  whose  eyes  Nebuchadnezzar  put  out  after 
the  fall  of  Jerusalem.  His  son  Jozadak  succeeded  to 
the  dignity,  though  there  could  be  no  sacrifices  in 
Babylon,  and  after  him  his  son  Jeshua.  He  cannot 
have  been  a  young  man  at  the  date  of  the  return ;  but 
age  had  not  dimmed  his  enthusiasm,  and  the  high-priest 
was  where  he  ought  to  have  been,  in  the  forefront  of 
the  returning  exiles.  His  name  recalls  the  other 
Joshua,  likewise  a  leader  from  captivity  and  the  desert ; 
and,  I  we  appreciate  the  significance  attached  to  names 
in  Scripture,  we  shall  scarcely  suppose  it  accidental  that 
these  two,  who  had  similar  woik  to  do,  bore  the  same 
name  as  the  solitary  third,  of  whom  they  were  pale 
shadows,  the  greater  Joshua,  who  brings  His  people 
from  bondage  into  His  own  land  of  peace,  and  builds 
the  Temple. 

Zerubbabel  ('Sown  in  Babylon')  belonged  to  a  col- 
lateral branch  of  the  royal  family.  The  direct  Davidic 
line  through  Solomon  died  with  the  wretched  Zedekiah 
and  Jeconiah,  but  the  descendants  of  another  son  of 
David's,  Nathan,  still  survived.  Their  representative 
was  one  Salathiel,  who,  on  the  failure  of  the  direct 
line,  was  regarded  as  the  '  son  of  Jeconiah '  (1  Chron. 
iii.  17).  He  seems  to  have  had  no  son,  and  Zerubbabel, 
who  was  really  his  nephew  (1  Chron.  iii.  19),  was  legally 
adopted  as  his  son.  In  this  makeshift  fashion,  some 
shadow  of  the  ancient  royalty  still  presided  over  the 
restored  people.  "We  see  Zerubbabel  better  in  Haggai 
and  Zechariah  than  in  Ezra,  and  can  discern  the  out- 
line of  a  strong,  bold,  prompt  nature.     He  had  a  hard 


286  EZRA  [CH.  iii. 

task,  and  he  did  it  like  a  man.  Patient,  yet  vigorous, 
glowing  with  enthusiasm,  yet  clear-eyed,  self-forgetful, 
and  brave,  he  has  had  scant  justice  done  him,  and  ought 
to  be  a  very  much  more  familiar  and  honoured  figure 
than  he  is.  '  Who  art  thou,  O  great  mountain  ?  Before 
Zerubbabel  thou  shalt  become  a  plain.'  Great  moun- 
tains only  become  plains  before  men  of  strong  wills  and 
fixed  faith. 

There  is  something  very  pathetic  in  the  picture  of 
the  assembled  people  groping  amid  the  ruins  on  the 
Temple  hill,  to  find  '  the  bases,'  the  half-obliterated  out- 
lines, of  the  foundations  of  the  old  altar  of  burnt 
offerings.  What  memories  of  Araunah's  threshing- 
floor,  and  of  the  hovering  angel  of  destruction,  and  of 
the  glories  of  Solomon's  dedication,  and  of  the  long 
centuries  during  which  the  column  of  smoke  had  gone 
up  continually  from  that  spot,  and  of  the  tragical  day 
when  the  fire  was  quenched,  and  of  the  fifty  years  of 
extinction,  must  have  filled  their  hearts !  What  a 
conflict  of  gladness  and  sorrow  must  have  troubled 
their  spirits  as  the  flame  again  shot  upwards  from  the 
hearth  of  God,  cold  for  so  long ! 

But  the  reason  for  their  so  quickly  rearing  the  altar 
is  noteworthy.  It  was  because  '  fear  was  upon  them 
because  of  the  people  of  the  countries,'  The  state  of 
the  Holy  Land  at  the  return  must  be  clearly  compre- 
hended. Samaria  and  the  central  district  were  in  the 
hands  of  bitter  enemies.  Across  Jordan  in  the  east, 
down  on  the  Philistine  plain  in  the  west,  and  in  the 
south  where  Edom  bore  sway,  eager  enemies  sulkily 
watched  the  small  beginnings  of  a  movement  which 
they  were  interested  in  thwarting.  There  was  only 
the  territory  of  Judah  and  Benjamin  left  free  for  the 
exiles,  and  they  had  reason  for  their  fears;  for  their 


vs.  1-13]         ALTAR  AND  TEMPLE  287 

neighbours  knew  that  if  restitution  was  to  be  the  order 
of  the  day,  they  would  have  to  disgorge  a  good  deal. 
What  was  the  defence  against  such  foes  which  these 
frightened  men  thought  most  impregnable?  That 
altar ! 

No  doubt,  much  superstition  mingled  with  their 
religion.  Haggai  leaves  us  under  no  illusions  as  to 
their  moral  and  spiritual  condition.  They  were  no 
patterns  of  devoutness  or  of  morality.  But  still,  what 
they  did  carries  an  eternal  truth ;  and  they  were  re- 
verting to  the  original  terms  of  Israel's  tenure  of  their 
land  when  they  acted  on  the  conviction  that  their 
worship  of  Jehovah  according  to  His  commandment 
was  their  surest  way  of  finding  shelter  from  all  their 
enemies.  There  are  differences  plain  enough  between 
their  condition  and  ours ;  but  it  is  as  true  for  us  as  ever 
it  was  for  them,  that  our  safety  is  in  God,  and  that,  if 
we  want  to  find  shelter  from  impending  dangers,  we 
shall  be  wiser  to  betake  ourselves  to  the  altar  and  sit 
suppliant  there  than  to  make  defences  for  ourselves. 
The  ruined  Jerusalem  was  better  guarded  by  that  altar 
than  if  its  fallen  walls  had  been  rebuilt. 

The  whole  ritual  was  restored,  as  the  narrative  tells 
with  obvious  satisfaction  in  the  enumeration.  To  us 
this  punctilious  attention  to  the  minutiae  of  sacrificial 
worship  sounds  trivial.  But  we  equally  err  if  we  try 
to  bring  such  externalities  into  the  worship  of  the 
Christian  Church,  and  if  we  are  blind  to  their  worth  at 
an  earlier  stage. 

There  cannot  be  a  temple  without  an  altar,  but  there 
may  be  an  altar  without  a  temple.  God  meets  men  at 
the  place  of  sacrifice,  even  though  there  be  no  house 
for  His  name.  The  order  of  events  here  teaches  us 
what  is  essential  for  communion  with  God.     It  is  the 


288  EZRA  [CH.  iii. 

altar.  Sacrifice  laid  there  is  accepted,  whether  it  stand 
on  a  bare  hill-top,  or  have  round  it  the  courts  of  the 
Lord's  house. 

The  second  part  of  the  passage  narrates  the  laying  of 
the  foundations  of  the  Temple.  There  had  been  con- 
tracts entered  into  with  masons  and  carpenters,  and 
arrangements  made  with  the  Phoenicians  for  timber, 
as  soon  as  the  exiles  had  returned ;  but  of  course  some 
time  elapsed  before  the  stone  and  timber  were  sufficient 
to  make  a  beginning  with.  Note  in  verse  7  the  refer- 
ence to  Cyrus'  grant  as  enabling  the  people  to  get 
these  stores  together.  Whether  the  whole  prepara- 
tions, or  only  the  transport  of  cedar  wood,  is  intended 
to  be  traced  to  the  influence  of  that  decree,  there  seems 
to  be  a  tacit  contrast,  in  the  writer's  mind,  with  the 
glorious  days  when  no  heathen  king  had  to  be  con- 
sulted, and  Hiram  and  Solomon  worked  together  like 
brothers.  Now,  so  fallen  are  we,  that  Tyre  and  Sidon 
will  not  look  at  us  unless  we  bring  Cyrus'  rescript  in 
our  hands ! 

If  the  *  years '  in  verses  1  and  8  are  calculated  from 
the  same  beginning,  some  seven  months  were  spent  in 
preparation,  and  then  the  foundation  was  laid.  Two 
things  are  noted — the  humble  attempt  at  making  some 
kind  of  a  display  on  the  occasion,  and  the  conflict  of 
feeling  in  the  onlookers.  They  had  managed  to  get 
some  copies  of  the  prescribed  vestments ;  and  the  nar- 
rator emphasises  the  fact  that  the  priests  were  '  in 
their  apparel,'  and  that  the  Levites  had  cymbals,  so 
that  some  approach  to  the  pomp  of  Solomon's  dedica- 
tion was  possible.  They  did  their  best  to  adhere  to  the 
ancient  prescriptions,  and  it  was  no  mere  narrow  love 
of  ritual  that  influenced  them.  However  we  may 
breathe  a  freer  air  of  worship,  we  cannot  but  sympa- 


vs  1-13]  ALTAR  AND  TEMPLE  289 

thise  with  that  earnest  attempt  to  do  everything 
*  according  to  the  order  of  David  king  of  Israel.'  Not 
only  punctiliousness  as  to  ritual,  but  the  magnetism  of 
glorious  memories,  prescribed  the  reproduction  of  that 
past.  Rites  long  proscribed  become  very  sacred,  and 
the  downtrodden  successors  of  mighty  men  will  cling 
with  firm  grasp  to  what  the  greater  fathers  did. 

The  ancient  strain  which  still  rings  from  Christian 
lips,  and  bids  fair  to  be  as  eternal  as  the  mercies  which 
it  hymns,  rose  with  strange  pathos  from  the  lips  of  the 
crowd  on  the  desolate  Temple  mountain,  ringed  about 
by  the  waste  solitudes  of  the  city:  'For  He  is  good, 
for  His  mercy  endureth  for  ever  toward  Israel.'  It 
needed  some  faith  to  sing  that  song  then,  even  with 
the  glow  of  return  upon  them.  What  of  all  the  weary 
years  ?  What  of  the  empty  homesteads,  and  the  sur- 
rounding enemies,  and  the  brethren  still  in  Babylon  ? 
No  doubt  some  at  least  of  the  rejoicing  multitude  had 
learned  what  the  captivity  was  meant  to  teach,  and 
had  come  to  bless  God,  both  for  the  long  years  of  exile, 
which  had  burned  away  much  dross,  and  for  the  in- 
complete work  of  restoration,  surrounded  though  they 
were  with  foes,  and  little  as  was  their  strength  to 
fight.  The  trustful  heart  finds  occasion  for  unmingled 
praise  in  the  most  mingled  cup  of  joy  and  sorrow. 

There  can  have  been  very  few  in  that  crowd  who  had 
seen  the  former  Temple,  and  their  memories  of  its 
splendour  must  have  been  very  dim.  But  partly  re- 
membrance and  partly  hearsay  made  the  contrast  of 
the  past  glories  and  the  present  poverty  painful. 
Hence  that  pathetic  and  profoundly  significant  incident 
of  the  blended  shouts  of  the  young  and  tears  of  the 
old.  One  can  fancy  that  each  sound  jarred  on  the  ears 
of  those  who  uttered  the  other.     But  each  was  wholly 

T 


290  EZRA  [CH.  III. 

natural  to  the  years  of  the  two  classes.  Sad  memories 
gather,  like  evening  mists,  round  aged  lives,  and  the 
temptation  of  the  old  is  unduly  to  exalt  the  past,  and 
unduly  to  depreciate  the  present.  Welcoming  shouts 
for  the  new  befit  young  lips,  and  they  care  little  about 
the  ruins  that  have  to  be  carted  off  the  ground  for  the 
foundations  of  the  temple  which  they  are  to  have  a 
hand  in  building.  However  imperfect,  it  is  better  to 
them  than  the  old  house  where  the  fathers  wor- 
shipped. 

But  each  class  should  try  to  understand  the  other's 
feelings.  The  friends  of  the  old  should  not  give  a 
churlish  welcome  to  the  new,  nor  those  of  the  new  for- 
get the  old.  It  is  hard  to  blend  the  two,  either  in 
individual  life  or  in  a  wider  sphere  of  thought  or 
act.  The  seniors  think  the  juniors  revolutionary  and 
irreverent;  the  juniors  think  the  seniors  fossils.  It  is 
possible  to  unite  the  shout  of  joy  and  the  weeping.  Un- 
less a  spirit  of  reverent  regard  for  the  past  presides  over 
the  progressive  movements  of  this  or  any  day,  they 
will  not  lay  a  solid  foundation  for  the  temple  of  the 
future.  We  want  the  old  and  the  young  to  work  side 
by  side,  if  the  work  is  to  last  and  the  sanctuary  is  to  be 
ample  enough  to  embrace  all  shades  of  character  and 
tendencies  of  thought.  If  either  the  grey  beards  of 
Solomon's  court  or  the  hot  heads  of  Rehoboam's  get  the 
reins  in  their  hands,  they  will  upset  the  chariot.  That 
mingled  sound  of  weeping  and  joy  from  the  Temple  hill 
tells  a  more  excellent  way. 


BUILDING  IN  TROUBLOUS  TIMES 

'Now  when  the  adversaries  of  Judah  and  Benjamin  heard  that  the  children  of 
the  captivity  builded  the  temple  unto  the  Lord  God  of  Israel ;  2.  Then  they  came  to 
Zerubbabel,  and  to  the  chief  of  the  fathers,  and  said  unto  them,  Let  us  bnild  with 
you :  for  we  seek  your  God,  as  ye  do  ;  and  we  do  sacrilice  unto  Him  since  the  days 
of  Esar-haddon  king  of  Assur,  which  brought  us  up  hither.  3.  But  Zerubbabel,  and 
Jeshua,  and  the  rest  of  the  chief  of  the  fathers  of  Israel,  said  unto  them,  Ye  have 
nothing  to  do  with  us  to  build  an  house  unto  our  God  ;  but  we  ourselves  together 
will  build  unto  the  Lord  God  of  Israel,  as  king  Cyrus  the  king  of  Persia  hath 
commanded  us.  4.  Then  the  people  of  the  land  weakened  the  hands  of  the  people  of 
Judah,  and  troubled  them  in  building,  5.  And  hired  counsellors  against  them,  to 
frustrate  their  purpose,  all  the  days  of  Cyrus  king  of  Persia,  even  until  the  reign 
of  Darius  king  of  Persia.'— Ezra  iv.  1-5. 

Opposition  began  as  soon  as  the  foundations  were 
laid,  as  is  usually  the  case  with  all  great  attempts  to 
build  God's  house.  It  came  from  the  Samaritans,  the 
mingled  people  who  were  partly  descendants  of  the 
ancient  remnant  of  the  northern  kingdom,  left  behind 
after  the  removal  by  deportation  of  the  bulk  of  its 
population,  and  partly  the  descendants  of  successive 
layers  of  immigrants,  planted  in  the  empty  territory 
by  successive  Assyrian  and  Babylonian  kings.  Esar- 
haddon  was  the  first  who  had  sent  colonists,  about  one 
hundred  and  thirty  years  before  the  return.  The 
writer  calls  the  Samaritans  '  the  adversaries,'  though 
they  began  by  offers  of  friendship  and  alliance.  The 
name  implies  that  these  offers  were  perfidious,  and  a 
move  in  the  struggle. 

One  can  easily  understand  that  the  Samaritans 
looked  with  suspicion  on  the  new  arrivals,  the  ancient 
possessors  of  the  land,  coming  under  the  auspices  of 
the  new  dynasty,  and  likely  to  interfere  with  their 
position  if  not  reduced  to  inferiority  or  neutralised 
somehow.  The  proposal  to  unite  in  building  the 
Temple  was  a  political  move ;  for,  in  old-world  ideas, 
co-operation  in  Temple-building  was  incorporation  in 

S91 


292  EZRA  [CH.  iv. 

national  unity.  The  calculation,  no  doubt,  was  that 
if  the  returning  exiles  could  be  united  with  the  much 
more  numerous  Samaritans,  they  would  soon  be 
absorbed  in  them.  The  only  chance  for  the  smaller 
body  was  to  keep  itself  apart,  and  to  run  the  risk  of 
its  isolation. 

The  insincere  request  was  based  on  an  untruth,  for 
the  Samaritans  did  not  worship  Jehovah  as  the  Jews, 
but  along  with  their  own  gods  (2  Kings  xvii.  25-41).  To 
divide  His  dominion  with  others  was  to  dethrone  Him 
altogether.  It  therefore  became  an  act  of  faithfulness 
to  Jehovah  to  reject  the  entangling  alliance.  To  have 
accepted  it  would  have  been  tantamount  to  frustrating 
the  very  purpose  of  the  return,  and  consenting  to  be 
muzzled  about  the  sin  of  idolatry.  But  the  chief  lesson 
which  exile  had  burned  in  on  the  Jewish  mind  was  a 
loathing  of  idolatry,  which  is  in  remarkable  contrast 
to  the  inclination  to  it  that  had  marked  their  previous 
history.  So  one  answer  only  was  possible,  and  it  was 
given  with  unwelcome  plainness  of  speech,  which 
might  have  been  more  courteous,  and  not  less  firm. 
It  flatly  denied  any  common  ground ;  it  claimed  ex- 
clusive relation  to  '  our  God,'  which  meant,  '  not 
yours ' ;  it  underscored  the  claim  by  reiterating  that 
Jehovah  was  the  'God  of  Israel';  it  put  forward 
the  decree  of  Cyrus,  as  leaving  no  option  but  to 
confine  the  builders  to  the  people  whom  it  had  em- 
powered to  build. 

Now,  it  is  easy  to  represent  this  as  a  piece  of 
impolitic  narrowness,  and  to  say  that  its  surly  bigotry 
was  rightly  punished  by  the  evils  that  it  brought 
down  on  the  returning  exiles.  The  temper  of  much 
flaccid  Christianity  at  present  delights  to  expand  in  a 
lazy  and  foolish  '  liberality,'  which  will  welcome  any- 


vs.  1-5]  BUILDING  IN  TROUBLOUS  TIMES  293 

body  to  come  and  take  a  hand  at  the  building,  and 
accepts  any  profession  of  unity  in  worship.  But  there 
is  no  surer  way  of  taking  the  earnestness  out  of 
Christian  work  and  workers  than  drafting  into  it  a 
mass  of  non-Christians,  whatever  their  motives  may 
be.  Cold  water  poured  into  a  boiling  pot  will  soon 
stop  its  bubbling,  and  bring  down  its  temperature. 
The  churches  are  clogged  and  impeded,  and  their 
whole  tone  lowered  and  chilled,  by  a  mass  of  worldly 
men  and  women.  Nothing  is  gained,  and  much  is  in 
danger  of  being  lost,  by  obliterating  the  lines  between 
the  church  and  the  world.  The  Jew  who  thought 
little  of  the  difference  between  the  Samaritan  worship 
with  its  polytheism,  and  his  own  monotheism,  was  in 
peril  of  dropping  to  the  Samaritan  level.  The  Samari- 
tan who  was  accepted  as  a  true  worshipper  of  Jehovah, 
though  he  had  a  bevy  of  other  gods  in  addition,  would 
have  been  confirmed  in  his  belief  that  the  differences 
were  unimportant.  So  both  would  have  been  harmed 
by  what  called  itself  '  liberality,'  and  was  in  reality 
indifference. 

No  doubt,  Zerubbabel  had  counted  the  cost  of  faith- 
fulness, and  he  soon  had  to  pay  it.  The  would-be 
friends  threw  off  the  mask,  and,  as  they  could  not 
hinder  by  pretending  to  help,  took  a  plainer  way  to 
stop  progress.  All  the  weapons  that  Eastern  subtlety 
and  intrigue  could  use  were  persistently  employed  to 
'  weaken  the  hands '  of  the  builders,  and  the  most 
potent  of  all  methods,  bribery  to  Persian  officials, 
was  freely  used.  The  opponents  triumphed,  and  the 
little  community  began  to  taste  the  bitterness  of  high 
hopes  disappointed  and  noble  enterprises  frustrated. 
How  differently  things  had  turned  out  from  the 
expectations  with  which  the  company  had  set  forth 


294  EZRA  [CH.  vi. 

from  Babylon!  The  rough  awakening  to  realities 
disillusions  us  all  when  we  come  to  turn  dreams  into 
facts.  The  beginning  of  laying  the  Temple  foundations 
is  put  in  536  B.C. ;  the  first  year  of  Darius  was  522. 
How  soon  after  the  commencement  of  the  work  the 
Samaritan  tricks  succeeded  we  do  not  know,  but  it 
must  have  been  some  time  before  the  death  of  Cyrus 
in  529.  For  weary  years  then  the  sanguine  band  had 
to  wait  idly,  and  no  doubt  enthusiasm  died  out :  they 
had  enough  to  do  in  keeping  themselves  alive,  and  in 
holding  their  own  amidst  enemies.  They  needed,  as 
we  all  do,  patience,  and  a  willingness  to  wait  for  God's 
own  time  to  fulfil  His  own  promise. 


THE  NEW  TEMPLE  AND  ITS  WORSHIP 

'  And  the  elders  of  the  Jews  builded,  and  they  prospered  through  the  prophesy- 
ing of  Haggai  the  prophet  and  Zechariah  the  son  of  Iddo:  and  they  builded,  and 
finished  it,  according  to  the  commandment  of  the  God  of  Israel,  and  according  to 
the  commandment  of  Cyrus,  and  Darius,  and  Artaxerxesking  of  Persia.  15.  And  this 
house  was  finished  on  the  third  day  of  the  month  Adar,  which  was  in  the  sixth 
year  of  the  reign  of  Darius  the  king.  16.  And  the  children  of  Israel,  the  priests,  and 
the  Levites,  and  the  rest  of  the  children  of  the  captivity,  kept  the  dedication  of 
this  house  of  God  with  joy,  17.  And  ofTered  at  the  dedication  of  this  house  of  God  an 
hundred  bullocks,  two  hundred  rams,  four  hundred  lambs ;  and  for  a  sin  oflfering 
for  all  Israel,  twelve  he-goats,  acfording  to  the  number  of  the  tribes  of  Israel.  18. 
And  they  set  the  priests  in  their  divisions,  and  the  Levites  in  their  courses,  for  the 
service  of  God,  which  is  at  Jerusalem  ;  as  it  is  written  in  the  book  of  Moses.  19.  And 
the  children  of  the  captivity  kept  the  passover  upon  the  fourteenth  day  of  the 
first  month.  20.  For  the  priests  and  the  Levites  were  purified  together,  all  of  them 
were  pure,  and  killed  the  passover  for  all  the  children  of  the  captivity,  and  for 
their  brethren  the  priests,  and  for  themselves.  21.  And  the  children  of  Israel,  which 
were  come  again  out  of  captivity,  and  all  such  as  had  separated  themselves  unto 
them  from  the  filthiness  of  the  heathen  of  the  land,  to  seek  the  Lord  God  of  Israel, 
did  eat,  22.  And  kept  the  feast  of  unleavened  bread  seven  days  with  joy  :  for  the 
Lord  had  made  them  joyful,  and  turned  the  heart  of  the  king  of  Assyria  unto 
them,  to  strengthen  their  hands  in  the  work  of  the  house  of  God,  the  God  of  Israel.' 
—Ezra.  vi.  14-22. 

There  are  three  events  recorded  in  this  passage, — the 
completion  of  the  Temple,  its  dedication,  and  the  keep- 
ing of  the  passover  some  weeks  thereafter.  Four  years 
intervene  between  the  resumption  of  building  and  its 


vs.  U-22]         THE  NEW  TEMPLE  295 

successful  finish,  much  of  which  time  had  heen  occupied 
by  the  interference  of  the  Persian  governor,  w^hich 
compelled  a  reference  to  Darius,  and  resulted  in  his 
confirmation  of  Cyrus'  charter.  The  king's  stringent 
orders  silenced  opposition,  and  seem  to  have  been 
loyally,  how^ever  unv^illingly,  obeyed.  About  twenty- 
three  years  passed  between  the  return  of  the  exiles 
and  the  completion  of  the  Temple. 

I.  The  prosperous  close  of  the  long  task  (vers.  14, 
15).  The  narrative  enumerates  three  points  in 
reference  to  the  completion  of  the  Temple  which  are 
very  significant,  and,  taken  together,  set  forth  the 
stimulus  and  law  and  helps  of  work  for  God. 

It  is  expressive  of  deep  truth  that  first  in  order  is 
named,  as  the  cause  of  success,  'the  prophesying  of 
Haggai  and  Zechariah.'  '  Practical  men,' no  doubt,  then 
as  always,  set  little  store  by  the  two  prophets'  fiery 
words,  and  thought  that  a  couple  of  masons  would 
have  done  more  for  the  building  than  they  did.  The 
contempt  for  '  ideas '  is  the  mark  of  shallow  and  vulgar 
minds.  Nothing  is  more  practical  than  principles  and 
motives  which  underlie  and  inform  work,  and  these 
two  prophets  did  more  for  building  the  Temple  by  their 
words  than  an  army  of  labourers  with  their  hands. 
'  There  are  diversities  of  operations,'  and  it  is  not  given 
to  every  man  to  handle  a  trowel ;  but  no  good  work 
will  be  prosperously  accomplished  unless  there  be 
engaged  in  it  prophets  who  rouse  and  rebuke  and 
hearten,  and  toilers  who  by  their  words  are  encouraged 
and  saved  from  forgetting  the  sacred  motives  and 
great  ends  of  their  work  in  the  monotony  and  multi- 
plicity of  details. 

Still  more  important  is  the  next  point  mentioned. 
The  work  was  done  '  according  to  the  commandment 


296  EZRA  [CH.VI. 

of  the  God  of  Israel.'  There  is  peculiar  beauty  and 
pathos  in  that  name,  which  is  common  in  Ezra.  It 
speaks  of  the  sense  of  unity  in  the  nation,  though  but 
a  fragment  of  it  had  come  back.  There  was  still  an 
Israel,  after  all  the  dreary  years,  and  in  spite  of  present 
separation.  God  was  still  its  God,  though  He  had 
hidden  His  face  for  so  long.  An  inextinguishable  faith, 
wistful  but  assured,  in  His  unalterable  promise,  throbs 
in  that  name,  so  little  warranted  by  a  superficial  view 
of  circumstances,  but  so  amply  vindicated  by  a  deeper 
insight.  His  '  commandment '  is  at  once  the  warrant 
and  the  standard  for  the  work  of  building.  In  His 
service  we  are  to  be  sure  that  He  bids,  and  then  to  carry 
out  His  will  whoever  opposes. 

We  are  to  make  certain  that  our  building  is  '  accord- 
ing to  the  pattern  showed  in  the  mount,'  and,  if  so,  to 
stick  to  it  in  every  point.  There  is  no  room  for  more 
than  one  architect  in  rearing  the  temple.  The  working 
drawings  must  come  from  Him.  We  are  only  His  work- 
men. And  though  we  may  know  no  more  of  the 
general  plan  of  the  structure  than  the  day-labourer 
who  carries  a  hod  does,  we  must  be  sure  that  we  have 
His  orders  for  our  little  bit  of  work,  and  then  we  may 
be  at  rest  even  while  we  toil.  They  who  build  accord- 
ing to  His  commandment  build  for  eternity,  and  their 
work  shall  stand  the  trial  by  fire.  That  motive  turns 
what  without  it  were  but  'wood,  hay,  stubble,'  into 
'  gold  and  silver  and  precious  stones.' 

The  last  point  is  that  the  work  was  done  according 
to  the  commandment  of  the  heathen  kings.  We  need 
not  discuss  the  chronological  difficulty  arising  from  the 
mention  of  Artaxerxes  here.  The  only  king  of  that 
name  who  can  be  meant  reigned  fifty  years  after  the 
events  here  narrated.    The  mention  of  him  here  has 


.8.  14-22]         THE  NEW  TEMPLE  297 

been  explained  by  '  the  consideration  that  he  con- 
tributed to  the  maintenance,  though  not  to  the  building, 
of  the  Temple.'  Whatever  is  the  solution,  the  intention 
of  the  mention  of  the  names  of  the  friendly  monarchs 
is  plain.  •  The  king's  heart  is  in  the  hand  of  the  Lord 
as  the  watercourses ;  He  turneth  it  whithersoever  He 
will.'  The  wonderful  providence,  surpassing  all  hopes, 
which  gave  the  people  '  favour  in  the  eyes  of  them  that 
carried  them  captive,'  animates  the  writer's  thankful- 
ness, while  he  recounts  that  miracle  that  the  command- 
ment of  God  was  re-echoed  by  such  lips.  The  repetition 
of  the  word  in  both  clauses  underscores,  as  it  were,  the 
remarkable  concurrence. 

II.  The  dedication  of  the  Temple  (vers.  16-18).  How 
long  the  dedication  was  after  the  completion  is  not 
specified.  The  month  Adar  was  the  last  of  the  Jewish 
year,  and  corresponded  nearly  with  our  March.  Prob- 
ably the  ceremonial  of  dedication  followed  immediately 
on  the  completion  of  the  building.  Probably  few,  if 
any,  of  the  aged  men,  who  had  wept  at  the  founding, 
survived  to  see  the  completion  of  the  Temple.  A  new 
generation  had  no  such  sad  contrasts  of  present  low- 
liness and  former  glory  to  shade  their  gladness.  So 
many  dangers  surmounted,  so  many  long  years  of  toil 
interrupted  and  hope  deferred,  gave  keener  edge  to  joy 
in  the  fair  result  of  them  all. 

We  may  cherish  the  expectation  that  our  long  tasks, 
and  often  disappointments,  will  have  like  ending  if 
they  have  been  met  and  done  in  like  spirit,  having  been 
stimulated  by  prophets  and  commanded  by  God.  It  is 
not  wholesome  nor  grateful  to  depreciate  present  bless- 
ings by  contrasting  them  with  vanished  good.  Let  us 
take  what  God  gives  to-day,  and  not  embitter  it  by 
remembering  yesterday  with  vain  regret.    There  is  a 


298  EZRA  [CH.VI. 

remembrance  of  the  former  more  splendid  Temple  in  the 
name  of  the  new  one,  which  is  thrice  repeated  in  the 
passage, — 'this  house.'  But  that  phrase  expresses 
gratitude  quite  as  much  as,  or  more  than,  regret.  The 
former  house  is  gone,  but  there  is  still '  this  house,'  and 
it  is  as  truly  God's  as  the  other  was.  Let  us  grasp  the 
blessings  we  have,  and  be  sure  that  in  them  is  continued 
the  substance  of  those  we  have  lost. 

The  offerings  were  poor,  if  compared  with  Solomon's 
'  two  and  twenty  thousand  oxen,  and  an  hundred  and 
twenty  thousand  sheep'  (1  Kings  viii.  63),  and  no  doubt 
the  despisers  of  the  'day  of  small  things,'  whom 
Zechariah  had  rebuked,  would  be  at  their  depreciating 
work  again.  But  '  if  there  be  first  a  willing  mind,  it 
is  accepted  according  to  that  a  man  hath,  and  not 
according  to  that  he  hath  not.'  The  thankfulness  of  the 
offerers,  not  the  number  of  their  bullocks  and  rams, 
made  the  sacrifice  well  pleasing.  But  it  would  not 
have  been  so  if  the  exiles'  resources  had  been  equal  to 
the  great  King's.  How  many  cattle  had  they  in  their 
stalls  at  home,  not  how  many  they  brought  to  the 
Temple,  was  the  important  question.  The  man  who 
says, '  Oh !  God  accepts  small  offerings,'  and  gives  a  mite 
while  he  keeps  talents,  might  as  well  keep  his  mite 
too ;  for  certainly  God  will  not  have  it. 

A  significant  part  of  the  offerings  was  the  'twelve 
he-goats,  according  to  the  number  of  the  tribes  of 
Israel.'  These  spoke  of  the  same  confidence  as  we  have 
already  noticed  as  being  expressed  by  the  designation 
of  '  the  God  of  Israel.'  Possibly  scattered  members  of 
all  the  tribes  had  come  back,  and  so  there  was  a  kind 
of  skeleton  framework  of  the  nation  present  at  the 
dedication ;  but,  whether  that  be  so  or  not,  that  hand- 
ful  of  people  was    not    Israel.      Thousands   of    their 


vs.  14-22]  THE  NEW  TEMPLE  299 

brethren  still  lingered  in  exile,  and  the  hope  of  their 
return  must  have  been  faint.  Yet  God's  promise  re- 
mained, and  Israel  was  immortal.  The  tribes  were 
still  twelve,  and  the  sacrifices  were  still  theirs.  A 
thrill  of  emotion  must  have  touched  many  hearts  as 
the  twelve  goats  were  led  up  to  the  altar.  So  an 
Englishman  feels  as  he  looks  at  the  crosses  on  the 
Union  Jack. 

But  there  was  more  than  patriotism  in  that  sacrifice. 
It  witnessed  to  unshaken  faith.  And  there  was  still 
more  expressed  in  it  than  the  offerers  dreamed ;  for  it 
prophesied  of  that  transformation  of  the  national  into 
the  spiritual  Israel,  in  virtue  of  which  the  promises 
remain  true,  and  are  inherited  by  the  Church  of  Christ 
in  all  lands. 

The  re-establishment  of  the  Temple  worship  with  the 
appointment  of  priests  and  Levites,  according  to 
the  ancient  ordinance,  naturally  followed  on  the 
dedication. 

III.  The  celebration  of  the  Passover  (vers.  19-22).  It 
took  place  on  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  first  month, 
and  probably,  therefore,  very  soon  after  the  dedication. 
They  '  kept  the  feast,  .  .  .  for  the  priests  and  Levites 
were  purified  together.'  The  zeal  of  the  sacerdotal 
class  in  attending  to  the  prescriptions  for  ceremonial 
purity  made  it  possible  that  the  feast  should  be 
observed.  How  much  of  real  devotion,  and  how  much 
of  mere  eagerness  to  secure  their  official  position, 
mingled  with  this  zeal,  cannot  be  determined.  Prob- 
ably there  was  a  touch  of  both.  Scrupulous  observance 
of  ritual  is  easy  religion,  especially  if  one's  position  is 
improved  by  it.  But  the  connection  pointed  out  by 
the  writer  is  capable  of  wide  applications.  The  true 
purity  and  earnestness  of  preachers  and  teachers  of 


300  EZRA  [CH.  VI. 

all  degrees  has  much  to  do  with  their  hearers'  and 
scholars'  participation  in  the  blessings  of  the  Gospel. 
If  priests  are  not  pure,  they  cannot  kill  the  passover. 
Earnest  teachers  make  earnest  scholars.  Foul  hands 
cannot  dispense  the  bread  of  life. 

There  is  a  slight  deviation  from  the  law  in  the  ritual 
as  here  stated,  since  it  was  prescribed  that  each  house- 
holder should  kill  the  passover  lamb  for  his  house. 
But  from  the  time  of  Hezekiah  the  Levites  seem  to 
have  done  it  for  the  congregation  (2  Chron.  xxx.  17), 
and  afterwards  for  the  priests  also  (2  Chron.  xxxv. 
11,  14). 

Verse  21  tells  that  not  only  the  returned  exiles,  but 
also  '  all  such  as  had  separated  themselves  unto  them 
from  the  filthiness  of  the  heathen  of  the  land,  to  seek 
the  Lord  God  of  Israel,'  ate  the  passover.  It  may 
be  questioned  whether  these  latter  were  Israelites, 
the  descendants  of  the  residue  who  had  not  been 
deported,  but  who  had  fallen  into  idolatry  during  the 
exile,  or  heathens  of  the  mixed  populations  who  had 
been  settled  in  the  vacant  country.  The  emphasis  put 
on  their  turning  to  Israel  and  Israel's  God  seems  to 
favour  the  latter  supposition.  But  in  any  case,  the 
fact  presents  us  with  an  illustration  of  the  proper 
effect  of  the  presence  anywhere  of  a  company  of  Gods 
true  worshippers.  If  we  purify  ourselves,  and  keep  the 
feast  of  the  true  passover  with  joy  as  well  as  purity, 
we  shall  not  want  for  outsiders  who  will  separate 
themselves  from  the  more  subtle  and  not  less  dangerous 
idolatries  of  modern  life,  to  seek  the  Lord  God  of 
Israel.  If  His  Israel  is  what  it  ought  to  be,  it  will 
attract.  A  bit  of  scrap-iron  in  contact  with  a  magnet 
is  a  magnet.  They  who  live  in  touch  with  Him  who 
said,  '1  will  draw  all  men  unto  Me'  will  share   His 


vs.  14-22]     GOD  THE  JOY-BRmCER  301 

attractive  power  in  the  measure  of  their  union  with 
Him. 

The  week  after  the  passover  feast  was,  according  to 
the  ritual,  observed  as  the  feast  of  unleavened  bread. 
The  narrative  touches  lightly  on  the  ceremonial,  and 
dwells  in  conclusion  on  the  joy  of  the  worshippers  and 
its  cause.  They  do  well  to  be  glad  whom  God  makes 
glad.  All  other  joy  bears  in  it  the  seeds  of  death.  It 
is,  in  one  aspect,  the  end  of  God's  dealings,  that  we 
should  be  glad  in  Him.  Wise  men  will  not  regard  that 
as  a  less  noble  end  than  making  us  pure ;  in  fact,  the 
two  are  united.  The  '  blessed  God '  is  glad  in  our  glad- 
ness when  it  is  His  gladness. 

Notice  the  exulting  wonder  with  which  God's  miracle 
of  mercy  is  reported  in  its  source  and  its  glorious 
result.  The  heart  of  the  king  was  turned  to  them,  and 
no  power  but  God's  could  have  done  that.  The  issue 
of  that  divine  intervention  was  the  completed  Temple, 
in  which  once  more  the  God  of  that  Israel  which  He 
had  so  marvellously  restored  dwelt  in  the  midst  of 
His  people. 


GOD  THE  JOY-BRINGER 

'They  kept  the  feast  .  .  .  seven  days  with  joy;  for  the  Lord  had  made  them 
joyful.'— Ezra  vi  22. 

Twenty  years  of  hard  work  and  many  disappoint- 
ments and  dangers  had  at  last,  for  the  Israelites 
returning  from  the  captivity,  been  crowned  by  the 
completion  of  the  Temple.  It  was  a  poor  affair  as 
compared  with  the  magnificent  house  that  had  stood 
upon  Zion ;  and  so  some  of  them  '  despised  the  day  of 
small  things.'     They  were  ringed  about  by  enemies; 


302  EZRA  [CH.  VI. 

they  were  feeble  in  themselves ;  there  was  a  great 
deal  to  darken  their  prospects  and  to  sadden  their 
hearts ;  and  yet,  when  memories  of  the  ancient  days 
came  back,  and  once  more  they  saw  the  sacrificial 
smoke  rising  from  the  long  cold  and  ruined  altar,  they 
rejoiced  in  God,  and  they  kept  the  passover  amid  the 
ruins,  as  my  text  tells  us,  for  the  '  seven  days '  of  the 
statutory  period  'with  joy,'  because,  in  spite  of  all, 
•  the  Lord  had  made  them  joyful.' 

I  think  if  we  take  this  simple  saying  we  get  two  or 
three  thoughts,  not  altogether  irrelevant  to  universal 
experience,  about  the  true  and  the  counterfeit  glad- 
nesses possible  to  us  all. 

I.  Look  at  that  great  and  wonderful  thought — God 
the  joy-maker. 

We  do  not  often  realise  how  glad  God  is  when  we 
are  glad,  and  how  worthy  an  object  of  much  that  He 
does  is  simply  the  prosperity  and  the  blessedness  of 
human  hearts.  The  poorest  creature  that  lives  has  a 
right  to  ask  from  God  the  satisfaction  of  its  instincts, 
and  every  man  has  a  claim  on  God — because  he  is  God's 
creature — to  make  him  glad.  God  honours  all  cheques 
legitimately  drawn  on  Him,  and  answers  all  claims, 
and  regards  Himself  as  occupied  in  a  manner  entirely 
congruous  with  His  magnificence  and  His  infinitude, 
when  He  stoops  to  put  some  kind  of  vibrating  glad- 
ness into  the  wings  of  a  gnat  that  dances  for  an 
hour  in  the  sunshine,  and  into  the  heart  of  a  man  that 
lives  his  time  for  only  a  very  little  longer. 

God  is  the  Joy-maker.  There  are  far  more  magni- 
ficent and  sublime  thoughts  about  Him  than  that ;  but 
I  do  not  know  that  there  is  any  that  ought  to  come 
nearer  to  our  hearts,  and  to  silence  more  of  our 
grumblings  and  of  our  distrust,  than  the  belief  that 


V.22]  GOD  THE  JOY-BRINGER  303 

the  gladness  of  His  children  is  an  end  contemplated  by 
Him  in  all  that  He  does.  Whether  we  think  it  of 
small  importance  or  no,  He  does  not  think  it  so,  that 
all  mankind  should  rejoice  in  Himself.  And  this  is  a 
marvellous  revelation  to  break  out  of  the  very  heart 
of  that  comparatively  hard  system  of  ancient  Judaism. 
'  The  Lord  hath  made  them  joyful.' 

Turning  away  from  the  immediate  connection  of 
these  words,  let  nie  remind  you  of  the  great  outlines 
of  the  divine  provision  for  gladdening  men's  hearts. 
I  was  going  to  say  that  God  had  only  one  way  of 
making  us  glad ;  and  perhaps  that  is  in  the  deepest 
sense  true.  That  way  is  by  putting  Himself  into  us. 
He  gives  us  Himself  to  make  us  glad  ;  for  nothing  else 
will  do  it — or,  at  least,  though  there  may  be  many 
subordinate  sources  of  joy,  if  there  be  in  the  inner- 
most shrine  of  our  spirits  an  empty  place,  where  the 
Shekinah  ought  to  shine,  no  other  joys  will  suffice  to 
settle  and  to  rejoice  the  soul.  The  secret  of  all  true 
human  well-being  is  close  communion  with  God ;  and 
when  He  looks  at  the  poorest  of  us,  desiring  to  make 
us  blessed,  He  can  but  say,  '  I  will  give  Myself  to  that 
poor  man  ;  to  that  ignorant  creature  ;  to  that  wayward 
and  prodigal  child ;  to  that  harlot  in  her  corruption ; 
to  that  worldling  in  his  narrow  godlessness ;  I  will 
give  Myself,  if  they  will  have  Me.'  And  thus,  and  only 
thus,  does  He  make  us  truly,  perfectly,  and  for  ever 
glad. 

Besides  that,  or  rather  as  a  sequel  and  consequence 
of  that,  there  come  such  other  God-given  blessings 
as  these  to  which  my  text  refers.  What  were  the 
outward  reasons  for  the  restored  exiles'  gladness? 
'The  Lord  had  made  them  joyful,  and  turned  the 
heart  of  the  king  .  .  .  unto  them  to  strengthen  their 


304  EZRA  [CH.  VI. 

hands  in  the  work  of  the  house  of  God,  the  God  of 
Israel.' 

So,  then,  He  pours  into  men's  lives  by  His  providences 
the  secondary  and  lov^er  gifts  which  men,  according  to 
changing  circumstances,  need ;  and  He  also  satisfies  the 
permanent  physical  necessities  of  all  orders  of  beings 
to  whom  He  has  given  life.  He  gives  Himself  for  the 
spirit ;  He  gives  whatever  is  contributory  to  any  kind 
of  gladness  ;  and  if  we  are  wise  we  shall  trace  all  to 
Him.  He  is  the  Joy-giver ;  and  that  man  has  not  yet 
understood  either  the  sanctity  of  life  or  the  full 
sweetness  of  its  sweetest  things  unless  he  sees,  written 
over  every  one  of  them,  the  name  of  God,  their  giver. 
Your  common  mercies  are  His  love  tokens,  and  they 
all  come  to  us,  just  as  the  gifts  of  parents  to  their 
children  do,  with  this  on  the  fly-leaf,  '  With  a  father's 
love.'  Whatever  comes  to  God's  child  with  that 
inscription,  surely  it  ought  to  kindle  a  thrill  of  gladness. 
That  '  the  king  of  Assyria's  heart  is  turned ' ;  shall 
we  thank  the  king  of  Assyria  ?  Yes  and  No  !  For  it 
was  God  who  '  turned '  it.  Oh !  to  carry  the  quiet 
confidence  of  that  thought  into  all  our  daily  life,  and 
see  His  name  written  upon  everything  that  contributes 
to  make  us  blessed.  God  is  the  true  Source  and  Maker 
of  every  joy. 

And  by  the  side  of  that  we  must  put  this  other 
thought — there  are  sources  of  joy  with  which  He  has 
nothing  to  do.  There  are  people  who  are  joyful — and 
there  are  some  of  them  listening  now — not  because 
God  made  them  joyful,  but  because  'the  world,  the 
devil,  and  the  flesh '  have  given  them  ghastly  carica- 
tures of  the  true  gladness.  And  these  rival  sources  of 
blessedness,  the  existence  of  which  my  text  suggests, 
are  the  enemies  of  all  that  is  good  and  noble  in  us  and 


V.22]  GOD  THE  JOY-BRINGER  305 

in  our  joys.     God  made  these  men  joyful,  and  so  their 
gladness  was  wholesome. 

II.  Note  the  consequent  obligation  and  wisdom  of 
taking  our  God-given  joys. 

'  They  kept  the  feast  with  joy,  for  the  Lord  had  made 
them  joyful.'  Then  it  is  our  obligation  to  accept  and 
use  what  it  is  His  blessedness  to  give.  Be  sure  you 
take  Him.  When  He  is  waiting  to  pour  all  His  love 
into  your  heart,  and  all  His  sweetness  into  your 
sensitive  spirit,  to  calm  your  anxieties,  to  deepen  your 
blessedness,  to  strengthen  everything  that  is  good  in 
you,  to  be  to  you  a  stay  in  the  midst  of  crumbling 
prosperity,  and  a  Light  in  the  midst  of  gathering 
darkness,  be  sure  that  you  take  the  joy  that  waits  your 
acceptance.  Do  not  let  it  be  said  that,  when  the  Lord 
Christ  has  come  down  from  heaven,  and  lived  upon 
earth,  and  gone  back  to  heaven,  and  sent  His  Spirit  to 
dwell  in  you,  you  lock  the  door  against  the  entrance 
of  the  joy-bringing  Messenger,  and  are  sad  and  restless 
and  discontented  because  you  have  shut  out  the  God 
who  desires  to  abide  in  your  hearts. 

'  They  kept  the  feast  with  joy,  because  the  Lord  had 
made  them  joyful.'  Oh !  how  many  Christian  men  and 
women  there  are,  who  in  the  midst  of  the  abundant 
and  wonderful  provision  for  continual  cheerfulness 
and  buoyancy  of  spirit  given  to  them  in  the  promises 
of  the  Gospel,  in  the  gifts  of  Christ,  in  the  indwelling 
of  the  Divine  Spirit,  do  yet  go  through  life  creeping 
and  sad,  burdened  and  anxious,  perplexed  and  at  their 
wits'  end,  just  because  they  will  not  have  the  God  who 
yearns  to  come  to  them,  or  at  least  will  not  have  Him 
in  anything  like  the  fullness  and  the  completeness  in 
which  He  desires  to  bestow  Himself.  If  God  gives, 
surely  we  are  bound  to  receive.     It  is  an  obligation 

u 


306  EZRA  [CH.  VI. 

upon  Christian  men  and  women,  which  they  do  not 
sufficiently  realise,  to  be  glad,  and  it  is  a  commandment 
needing  to  be  reiterated.  '  Rejoice  in  the  Lord  always ; 
and  again  I  say,  rejoice.'  Would  that  Christian  ex- 
perience in  this  generation  was  more  alive  to  the 
obligation  and  the  blessedness  of  perpetual  joy  arising 
from  perpetual  communion  with  Him. 

Further,  another  obligation  is  to  recognise  Him  in 
all  common  mercies,  because  He  is  at  the  back  of  them 
all.  Let  them  always  proclaim  Him  to  us.  Oh !  if  we 
did  not  go  through  the  world  blinded  to  the  real  Power 
that  underlies  all  its  motions,  we  should  feel  that 
everything  was  vocal  to  us  of  the  loving-kindness  of 
our  Father  in  heaven.  Link  Him,  dear  friend!  with 
everything  that  makes  your  heart  glad ;  with  every- 
thing pleasant  that  comes  to  you.  There  is  nothing 
good  or  sweet  but  it  flows  from  Him.  There  is  no 
common  delight  of  flesh  or  sense,  of  sight  or  taste  or 
smell,  no  little  enjoyment  that  makes  the  moment  pass 
more  brightly,  no  drop  of  oil  that  eases  the  friction  of 
the  wheels  of  life,  but  it  may  be  elevated  into  greatness 
and  nobleness,  and  will  then  first  be  understood  in  its 
true  significance,  if  it  is  connected  with  Him.  God 
does  not  desire  to  be  put  away  high  up  on  a  pedestal 
above  our  lives,  as  if  He  regulated  the  great  things 
and  the  trifles  regulated  themselves ;  but  He  seeks  to 
come,  as  air  into  the  lungs,  into  every  particle  of  the 
mass  of  life,  and  to  fill  it  all  with  His  own  purifying 
presence. 

Recognise  Him  in  common  joys.  If,  when  we  sit 
down  to  partake  of  them,  we  w^ould  say  to  ourselves, 
'  The  Lord  has  made  us  joyful,'  all  our  home  delights, 
all  our  social  pleasures,  all  our  intellectual  and  all  our 
sensuous  ones— rest  and  food  and  drink  and  all  other 


V.22]  GOD  THE  JOY  BRINGER  307 

goods  for  the  body — they  would  all  be  felt  to  be  great, 
as  they  indeed  are.  Enjoyed  in  Him,  the  smallest  is 
great ;  without  Him,  the  greatest  is  small.  '  The  Lord 
made  them  joyful ' ;  and  what  is  large  enough  for  Him 
to  give  ought  not  to  be  too  small  for  us  to  receive  with 
recognition  of  His  hand. 

Another  piece  of  wholesome  counsel  in  this  matter 
is — Be  sure  that  you  use  the  joys  which  God  does  give. 
Many  good  people  seem  to  think  that  it  is  somehow 
devout  and  becoming  to  pitch  most  of  their  songs  in  a 
minor  key,  and  to  be  habitually  talking  about  trials 
and  disappointments,  and  'a  desert  land,'  and  'Brief 
life  is  here  our  portion,'  and  so  on,  and  so  on.  There 
are  two  ways  in  which  you  can  look  at  the  world  and 
at  everything  that  befalls  you.  There  is  enough  in 
everybody's  life  to  make  him  sad  if  he  sulkily  selects 
these  things  to  dwell  upon.  There  is  enough  in  every- 
body's life  to  make  him  continually  glad  if  he  wisely 
picks  out  these  to  think  about.  It  depends  altogether 
on  the  angle  at  which  you  look  at  your  life  what  you 
see  in  it.  For  instance,  you  know  how  children  do 
when  they  get  a  bit  of  a  willow  wand  into  their 
possession.  They  cut  oflp  rings  of  bark,  and  get  the 
switch  alternately  white  and  black,  white  and  black, 
and  so  on  right  away  to  the  tip.  Whether  will  you 
look  at  the  white  rings  or  the  black  ones  ?  They  are 
both  there.  But  if  you  rightly  look  at  the  black  you 
will  find  out  that  there  is  white  below  it,  and  it  only 
needs  a  very  little  stripping  oif  of  a  film  to  make  it 
into  white  too.  Or,  to  put  it  into  simpler  words,  no 
Christian  man  has  the  right  to  regard  anything  that 
God's  Providence  brings  to  him  .  as  such  unmingled 
evil  that  it  ought  to  make  him  sad.  We  are  bound  to 
'  rejoice  in  the  Lord  always.* 


308  EZRA  [CH.  Ti. 

I  know  how  hard  it  is,  but  sure  am  I  that  it  is 
possible  for  a  man,  if  he  keeps  near  Jesus  Christ, 
to  reproduce  Paul's  paradox  of  being  '  sorrowful  yet 
always  rejoicing,'  and  even  in  the  midst  of  darkness 
and  losses  and  sorrows  and  blighted  hopes  and  dis- 
appointed aims  to  rejoice  in  the  Lord,  and  to  '  keep 
the  feast  with  gladness,  because  the  Lord  has  made 
him  joyful.'  Nor  do  we  discharge  our  duty,  unless 
side  by  side  with  the  sorrow  which  is  legitimate,  which 
is  blessed,  strengthening,  purifying,  calming,  moderat- 
ing, there  is  also  'joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory.' 

Again,  be  sure  that  you  limit  your  delights  to  God- 
made  joys.  Too  many  of  us  have  what  parts  of  our 
nature  recognise  as  satisfaction,  and  are  glad  to  have, 
apart  from  Him.  There  is  nothing  sadder  than  the 
joys  that  come  into  a  life,  and  do  not  come  from  God. 
Oh !  let  us  see  to  it  that  we  do  not  fill  our  cisterns  with 
poisonous  sewage  when  God  is  waiting  to  fill  them 
with  the  pure  *  river  of  the  water  of  life.'  Do  not  let  us 
draw  our  blessedness  from  the  world  and  its  evils. 
Does  my  joy  help  me  to  come  near  to  God?  Does 
it  interfere  with  my  communion  with  Him?  Does  it 
aid  me  in  the  consecration  of  myself  ?  Does  my  con- 
science go  with  it  when  my  conscience  is  most  awake  ? 
Do  I  recognise  Him  as  the  Giver  of  the  thing  that  is 
so  blessed  ?  If  we  can  say  Yes !  to  these  questions,  we 
can  venture  to  believe  that  our  blessedness  comes 
from  God,  and  leads  to  God,  however  homely,  however 
sensuous  and  material  may  be  its  immediate  occasion. 
But  if  not,  then  the  less  we  have  to  do  with  such  sham 
gladness  the  better.  *  Even  in  laughter  the  heart  is 
sorrowful,  and  the  end  of  that  mirth  is  heaviness.' 
The  alternative  presented  for  the  choice  of  each  of  us 
is  whether  we  will  have  surface  joy  and  a  centre  of 


V.22]  HEROIC  FAITH  309 

dark  discontent,  or  surface  sorrow  and  a  centre  of 
calm  blessedness.  The  film  of  stagnant  water  on  a 
pond  full  of  rottenness  simulates  the  glories  of  the 
rainbow,  in  which  pure  sunshine  falls  upon  the  pure 
drops,  but  it  is  only  painted  corruption  aft-  r  all,  a 
sign  of  rotting  ;  and  if  a  man  puts  his  lips  to  it  it  will 
kill  him.  Such  is  the  joy  which  is  apart  from  God. 
It  is  the  *  crackling  of  thorns  under  a  pot ' — the  more 
fiercely  they  burn  the  sooner  they  are  ashes.  And,  on 
the  other  hand,  '  these  things  have  I  spoken  unto  you 
that  My  joy  might  remain  in  you,  and  that  your  joy 
might  be  full.' 

It  is  not '  for  seven  days '  that  we  '  keep  the  feast '  if 
God  has  'made  us  joyful,'  but  for  all  the  rest  of  the 
days  of  time,  and  for  the  endless  years  of  the  calm 
gladnesses  of  the  heavens. 


HEROIC  FAITH 

'  I  was  ashamed  to  require  of  the  king  a  band  of  soldiers  and  horsemen  to  help 
us  against  the  enemy  in  the  way :  because  we  had  spoken  unto  the  king,  saying, 
The  hand  of  our  God  is  upon  them  all  for  good  that  seek  Him. ...  23.  So  we  fasted 
and  besought  our  God  for  this.  ...  31.  The  hand  of  our  God  was  upon  us,  and  He 
delivered  us  from  the  hand  of  the  enemy,  and  of  such  as  lay  in  wait  by  the  way. 
32.  And  we  came  to  Jerusalem.'— Ezra  viii.  22,  23,  31,  32. 

The  memory  of  Ezra  the  scribe  has  scarcely  had 
fairplay  among  Bible-reading  people.  True,  neither 
his  character  nor  the  incidents  of  his  life  reach  the 
height  of  interest  or  of  grandeur  belonging  to  the 
earlier  men  and  their  times.  He  is  no  hero,  or 
prophet ;  only  a  scribe ;  and  there  is  a  certain  narrow- 
ness as  well  as  a  prosaic  turn  about  his  mind,  and 
altogether  one  feels  that  he  is  a  smaller  man  than 
the  Elijahs  and  Davids  of  the  older  days.     But  the 


310  EZRA  [CH.VIII. 

homely  garb  of  the  scribe  covered  a  very  brave  devout 
heart,  and  the  story  of  his  life  deserves  to  be  more 
familiar  to  us  than  it  is. 

This  scrap  from  the  account  of  his  preparations 
for  the  march  from  Babylon  to  Jerusalem  gives  us 
a  glimpse  of  a  high-toned  faith,  and  a  noble  strain  of 
feeling.  He  and  his  company  had  a  long  weary 
journey  of  four  months  before  them.  They  had  had 
little  experience  of  arms  and  warfare,  or  of  hardships 
and  desert  marches,  in  their  Babylonian  homes.  Their 
caravan  was  made  unwieldy  and  feeble  by  the  presence 
of  a  large  proportion  of  women  and  children.  They 
had  much  valuable  property  with  them.  The  stony 
desert,  which  stretches  unbroken  from  the  Euphrates 
to  the  uplands  on  the  east  of  Jordan,  was  infested 
then  as  now  by  wild  bands  of  marauders,  who  might 
easily  swoop  down  on  the  encumbered  march  of  Ezra 
and  his  men,  and  make  a  clean  sweep  of  all  which  they 
had.  x\nd  he  knew  that  he  had  but  to  ask  and  have  an 
escort  from  the  king  that  would  ensure  their  safety 
till  they  saw  Jerusalem.  Artaxerxes'  surname,  'the 
long-handed,'  may  have  described  a  physical  peculiarity, 
but  it  also  expressed  the  reach  of  his  power ;  his  arm 
could  reach  these  wandering  plunderers,  and  if  Ezra 
and  his  troop  were  visibly  under  his  protection,  they 
could  march  secure.  So  it  was  not  a  small  exercise  of 
trust  in  a  higher  Hand  that  is  told  us  here  so  simply. 
It  took  some  strength  of  principle  to  abstain  from 
asking  what  it  would  have  been  so  natural  to  ask, 
so  easy  to  get,  so  comfortable  to  have.  But,  as  he 
says,  he  remembered  how  confidently  he  has  spoken 
of  God's  defence,  and  he  feels  that  he  must  be  true 
to  his  professed  creed,  even  if  it  deprives  him  of  the 
king's  guards.     He  halts  his  followers  for  three  days 


vs  22.23,31,32]      HEROIC  FAITH  811 

at  the  last  station  before  the  desert,  and  there,  with 
fasting  and  prayer,  they  put  themselves  in  God's  hand ; 
and  then  the  band,  with  their  wives  and  little  ones,  and 
their  substance, — a  heavily-loaded  and  feeble  caravan, 
— fling  themselves  into  the  dangers  of  the  long,  dreary, 
robber-haunted  march.  Did  not  the  scribe's  robe  cover 
as  brave  a  heart  as  ever  beat  beneath  a  breastplate  ? 

That  symbolic  phrase,  '  the  hand  of  our  God,'  as  ex- 
pressive of  the  divine  protection,  occurs  with  remark- 
able frequency  in  the  books  of  Ezra  and  Nehemiah, 
and  though  not  peculiar  to  them,  is  yet  strikingly 
characteristic  of  them.  It  has  a  certain  beauty  and 
force  of  its  own.  The  hand  is  of  course  the  seat  of 
active  power.  It  is  on  or  over  a  man  like  some  great 
shield  held  aloft  above  him,  below  which  there  is  safe 
hiding.  So  that  great  Hand  bends  itself  over  us,  and 
we  are  secure  beneath  its  hollow.  As  a  child  some- 
times carries  a  tender-winged  butterfly  in  the  globe 
of  its  two  hands  that  the  bloom  on  the  wings  may 
not  be  ruffled  by  fluttering,  so  He  carries  our  feeble, 
unarmoured  souls  enclosed  in  the  covert  of  His 
Almighty  hand.  'Who  hath  measured  the  waters  in 
the  hollow  of  His  hand  ? '  '  Who  hath  gathered  the 
wind  in  His  fists?'  In  that  curved  palm  where  all 
the  seas  lie  as  a  very  little  thing,  we  are  held ;  the 
grasp  that  keeps  back  the  tempests  from  their  wild 
rush,  keeps  us,  too,  from  being  smitten  by  their  blast. 
As  a  father  may  lay  his  own  large  muscular  hand  on 
his  child's  tiny  fingers  to  help  him,  or  as  '  Elisha  put 
his  hands  on  the  king's  hands,'  that  the  contact  might 
strengthen  him  to  shoot  the  'arrow  of  the  Lord's 
deliverance,'  so  the  hand  of  our  God  is  upon  us  to 
impart  power  as  well  as  protection;  and  our  'bow 
abides  in  strength,'  when  '  the  arms  of  our  hands  are 


312  EZRA  [CH.  VIII. 

made  strong  by  the  hands  of  the  mighty  God  of  Jacob.* 
That  was  Ezra's  faith,  and  that  should  be  ours. 

Note  Ezra's  sensitive  shrinking  from  anything  like 
inconsistency  between  his  creed  and  his  practice.  It 
was  easy  to  talk  about  God's  protection  when  he  was 
safe  behind  the  walls  of  Babylon ;  but  now  the  pinch 
had  come.  There  was  a  real  danger  before  him  and 
his  unwarlike  followers.  No  doubt,  too,  there  were 
plenty  of  people  who  would  have  been  delighted  to 
catch  him  tripping ;  and  he  felt  that  his  cheeks  would 
have  tingled  with  shame  if  they  had  been  able  to  say, 
•  Ah  !  that  is  what  all  his  fine  professions  come  to,  is  it  ? 
He  wants  a  convoy,  does  he  ?  We  thought  as  much. 
It  is  always  so  with  these  people  who  talk  in  that 
style.  They  are  just  like  the  rest  of  us  when  the  pinch 
comes.'  So,  with  a  high  and  keen  sense  of  what  was 
required  by  his  avowed  principles,  he  will  have  no 
guards  for  the  road.  There  was  a  man  whose  religion 
was  at  any  rate  not  a  fair-weather  religion.  It  did 
not  go  off  in  fine  speeches  about  trusting  to  the 
protection  of  God,  spoken  from  behind  the  skirts  of 
the  king,  or  from  the  middle  of  a  phalanx  of  his 
soldiers.  He  clearly  meant  what  he  said,  and  believed 
every  word  of  it  as  a  prose  fact,  which  was  solid 
enough  to  build  conduct  on. 

I  am  afraid  a  great  many  of  us  would  rather  have 
tried  to  reconcile  our  asking  for  a  band  of  horsemen 
with  our  professed  trust  in  God's  hand ;  and  there 
would  have  been  plenty  of  excuses  very  ready  about 
using  means  as  well  as  exercising  faith,  and  not  being 
called  upon  to  abandon  advantages,  and  not  pushing 
a  good  principle  to  Quixotic  lengths,  and  so  on,  and 
so  on.  But  whatever  truth  there  is  in  such  considera- 
tions, at  any  rate  we  may  well  learn  the  lesson  of 


vs.  22, 23, 31, 32]     HEROIC  FAITH  818 

this  story — to  be  true  to  our  professed  principles;  to 
beware  of  making  our  religion  a  matter  of  words; 
to  live,  when  the  time  for  putting  them  into  practice 
comes,  by  the  maxims  which  we  have  been  forward 
to  proclaim  when  there  was  no  risk  in  applying  them; 
and  to  try  sometimes  to  look  at  our  lives  with  the 
eyes  of  people  who  do  not  share  our  faith,  that  we 
may  bring  our  actions  up  to  the  mark  of  what  they 
expect  of  us.  If  '  the  Church '  would  of tener  think  of 
what '  the  world '  looks  for  from  it,  it  would  seldomer 
have  cause  to  be  ashamed  of  the  terrible  gap  between 
it  words  and  its  deeds. 

Especially  in  regard  to  this  matter  of  trust  in  an 
unseen  Hand,  and  reliance  on  visible  helps,  we  all  need 
to  be  very  rigid  in  our  self-inspection.  Faith  in  the 
good  hand  of  God  upon  us  for  good  should  often  lead 
to  the  abandonment,  and  always  to  the  subordination, 
of  material  aids.  It  is  a  question  of  detail,  which  each 
man  must  settle  for  himself  as  each  occasion  arises, 
whether  in  any  given  case  abandonment  or  subordina- 
tion is  our  duty.  This  is  not  the  place  to  enter  on  so 
large  and  difficult  a  question.  But,  at  all  events,  let 
us  remember,  and  try  to  work  into  our  own  lives,  that 
principle  which  the  easy-going  Christianity  of  this  day 
has  honeycombed  with  so  many  exceptions,  that  it 
scarcely  has  any  whole  surface  left  at  all;  that  the 
absolute  surrender  and  forsaking  of  external  helps 
and  goods  is  sometimes  essential  to  the  preservation 
and  due  expression  of  reliance  on  God. 

There  is  very  little  fear  of  any  of  us  pushing  that 
principle  to  Quixotic  lengths.  The  danger  is  all  the 
other  way.  So  it  is  worth  while  to  notice  that  we 
have  here  an  instance  of  a  man's  being  carried  by  a 
certain  lofty  enthusiasm  further  than  the  mere  law 


314  EZRA  [CH.  VIII. 

of  duty  would  take  him.  There  would  have  been  no 
harm  in  Ezra's  asking  an  escort,  seeing  that  his  whole 
enterprise  was  made  possible  by  the  king's  support. 
He  would  not  have  been  '  leaning  on  an  arm  of  flesh ' 
by  availing  himself  of  the  royal  troops,  any  more  than 
when  he  used  the  royal  firman.  But  a  true  man  often 
feels  that  he  cannot  do  the  things  which  he  might 
without  sin  do.  '  All  things  are  lawful  for  me,  but 
all  things  are  not  expedient,'  said  Paul.  The  same 
Apostle  eagerly  contended  that  he  had  a  perfect  right 
to  money  support  from  the  Gentile  Churches;  and 
then,  in  the  next  breath,  flamed  up  into,  '  I  have  used 
none  of  these  things,  for  it  were  better  for  me  to  die, 
than  that  any  man  should  make  my  glorying  void.'  A 
sensitive  spirit,  or  one  profoundly  stirred  by  religious 
emotion,  will,  like  the  apostle  whose  feet  were  moved 
by  love,  far  outrun  the  slower  soul,  whose  steps  are 
only  impelled  by  the  thought  of  duty.  Better  that 
the  cup  should  run  over  than  that  it  should  not  be 
full.  Where  we  delight  to  do  His  will,  there  will 
often  be  more  than  a  scrupulously  regulated  enough ; 
and  where  there  is  not  sometimes  that  'more,'  there 
will  never  be  enough. 

♦  Give  all  thou  canst ;  high  Heaven  rejects  the  lore 
Of  nicely  calculated  less  or  more.' 

What  shall  we  say  of  people  who  profess  that  God 
is  their  portion,  and  are  as  eager  in  the  scramble  for 
money  as  anybody  ?  What  kind  of  a  commentary  will 
sharp-sighted,  sharp-tongued  observers  have  a  right  to 
make  on  us,  whose  creed  is  so  unlike  theirs,  while  our 
lives  are  identical  ?  Do  you  believe,  friends !  that '  the 
hand  of  our  God  is  upon  all  them  for  good  that  seek 
Him '  ?    Then,  do  you  not  think  that  racing  after  the 


vs.  22, 23,31, 32]      HEROIC  FAITH  315 

prizes  of  this  world,  with  flushed  cheeks  and  labouring 
breath,  or  longing,  with  a  gnawing  hunger  of  heart,  for 
any  earthly  good,  or  lamenting  over  the  removal  of 
creatural  defences  and  joys,  as  if  heaven  were  empty 
because  some  one's  place  here  is,  or  as  if  God  were 
dead  because  dear  ones  die,  may  well  be  a  shame  to  us, 
and  a  taunt  on  the  lips  of  our  enemies  ?  Let  us  learn 
again  the  lesson  from  this  old  story, — that  if  our 
faith  in  God  is  not  the  veriest  sham,  it  demands  and 
will  produce,  the  abandonment  sometimes  and  the 
subordination  always,  of  external  helps  and  material 
good. 

Notice,  too,  Ezra's  preparation  for  receiving  the 
divine  help.  There,  by  the  river  Ahava,  he  halts  his 
company  like  a  prudent  leader,  to  repair  omissions, 
and  put  the  last  touches  to  their  organisation  before 
facing  the  wilderness.  But  he  has  another  purpose 
also.  'I  proclaimed  a  fast  there,  to  seek  of  God  a 
right  way  for  us.'  There  was  no  foolhardiness  in  his 
courage ;  he  was  well  aware  of  all  the  possible  dangers 
on  the  road;  and  whilst  he  is  confident  of  the  divine 
protection,  he  knows  that,  in  his  own  quiet,  matter-of- 
fact  words,  it  is  given  '  to  all  them  that  seek  Him.'  So 
his  faith  not  only  impels  him  to  the  renunciation  of 
the  Babylonian  guard,  but  to  earnest  supplication  for 
the  defence  in  which  he  is  so  confident.  He  is  sure  it 
will  be  given — so  sure,  that  he  will  have  no  other  shield; 
and  yet  he  fasts  and  prays  that  he  and  his  company 
may  receive  it.  He  prays  because  he  is  sure  that  he 
will  receive  it,  and  does  receive  it  because  he  prays 
and  is  sure. 

So  for  us,  the  condition  and  preparation  on  and  by 
which  we  are  sheltered  by  that  great  Hand,  is  the  faith 
that  asks,  and  the  asking  of  faith.     We  must  forsake 


316  EZRA  [CH.VIII. 

the  earthly  props,  but  we  must  also  believingly  desire 
to  be  upheld  by  the  heavenly  arms.  We  make  God 
responsible  for  our  safety  when  we  abandon  other 
defence,  and  commit  ourselves  to  Him.  With  eyes 
open  to  our  dangers,  and  full  consciousness  of  our 
own  unarmed  and  unwarlike  weakness,  let  us  solemnly 
commend  ourselves  to  Him,  rolling  all  our  burden  ou 
His  strong  arms,  knowing  that  He  is  able  to  keep  that 
which  we  have  committed  to  Him.  He  will  accept  the 
trust,  and  set  His  guards  ab  )  it  us.  As  the  song  of 
the  returning  exiles,  which  may  have  been  sung  by 
the  river  Ahava,  has  it :  '  My  help  cometh  from  the 
Lord.  The  Lord  is  thy  keeper.  The  Lord  is  thy  shade 
upon  thy  right  hand.' 

So  our  story  ends  with  the  triumphant  vindication  of 
this  Quixotic  faith.  A  flash  of  joyful  feeling  breaks 
through  the  simple  narrative,  as  it  tells  how  the  words 
spoken  before  the  king  came  true  in  the  experience  of 
the  weaponless  pilgrims :  '  The  hand  of  our  God  was 
upon  us,  and  He  delivered  us  from  the  hand  of  the 
enemy,  and  of  such  as  lay  in  wait  by  the  way ;  and  we 
came  to  Jerusalem.'  It  was  no  rash  venture  that  we 
made.  He  was  all  that  we  hoped  and  asked.  Through 
all  the  weary  march  He  led  us.  From  the  wild,  desert- 
born  robbers,  that  watched  us  from  afar,  ready  to  come 
down  on  us,  from  ambushes  and  hidden  perils,  He  kept 
us,  because  we  had  none  other  help,  and  all  our  hope 
was  in  Him.  The  ventures  of  faith  are  ever  rewarded. 
We  cannot  set  our  expectations  from  God  too  high. 
What  we  dare  scarcely  hope  now  we  shall  one  day 
remember.  When  we  come  to  tell  the  completed  story 
of  our  lives,  we  shall  have  to  record  the  fulfilment  of 
all  God's  promises,  and  the  accomplishment  of  all  our 
prayers  that  were  built  on  these.     Here  let  us  cry, '  Be 


V.29]     CHARGE  OF  PILGRIM  PRIESTS     317 

Thy  hand  apon  us.'  Here  let  us  trust,  Thy  hand  will 
be  upon  a&.  Then  we  shall  have  to  say,  '  The  hand  of 
our  Go'l  was  upon  us,'  and  as  we  look  from  the  watch- 
towers  of  the  city,  on  the  desert  that  stretches  to  its 
very  walls,  and  remember  all  the  way  by  which  He 
led  us,  we  shall  rejoice  over  His  vindication  of  our 
poor  faith,  and  praise  Him  that  'not  one  thing  hath 
failed  of  all  the  things  which  the  Lord  our  God  spake 
concerning  us.' 


THE  CHARGE  OF  THE   PILGRIM  PRIESTS 

■  Watch  ye,  and  keep  them,  untU  ye  weigh  them  ...  at  Jerusalem,  in  the 
chambers  of  the  house  of  the  Lord.'— Ezra  viii.  29. 

The  little  band  of  Jews,  seventeen  hundred  in  number, 
returning  from  Babylon,  had  just  started  on  that  long 
pilgrimage,  and  made  a  brief  halt  in  order  to  get  every- 
thing in  order  for  their  transit  across  the  desert ;  when 
their  leader  Ezra,  taking  count  of  his  men,  discovers 
that  amongst  them  there  are  none  of  the  priests  or 
Levites.  He  then  takes  measures  to  reinforce  his  little 
army  with  a  contingent  of  these,  and  entrusts  to  their 
special  care  a  very  valuable  treasure  in  gold,  and  silver, 
and  sacred  vessels,  which  had  been  given  to  them  for 
use  in  the  house  of  the  Lord.  The  words  which  I  have 
taken  as  text  are  a  portion  of  the  charge  which  he  gave 
to  those  twelve  priestly  guardians  of  the  precious 
things,  that  were  to  be  used  in  worship  when  they  got 
back  to  the  Temple.  '  Watch  and  keep  them,  until  ye 
weigh  them  in  the  chambers  of  the  house  of  the 
Lord.' 

So  I  think  I  may  venture,   without  being  unduly 
fanciful,  to  take    these  words  as  a  type  of   the   in- 


318  EZRA  [cH.vin. 

junctions  which  are  given  to  us  Christian  p  -^ople ;  and 
to  see  in  them  a  striking  and  picturesque  representa- 
tion of  the  duties  that  devolve  upon  us  in  the  course  of 
our  journey  across  the  desert  to  the  Temple -Home 
above. 

And  to  begin  with,  let  me  remind  you,  for  a  mom  ent 
or  two,  what  the  precious  treasure  is  which  is  thus 
entrusted  to  our  keeping  and  care.  We  can  scarcely, 
in  such  a  connection  and  with  such  a  metaphor,  forget 
the  words  of  our  Lord  about  a  certain  king  that  went 
to  receive  his  kingdom,  and  to  return;  who  called 
together  his  servants,  and  gave  to  each  of  them  accord- 
ing to  their  several  ability,  with  the  injunction  to  trade 
upon  that  until  he  came.  The  same  metaphor  which 
our  Master  employed  lies  in  this  story  before  us — in 
the  one  case,  sacrificial  vessels  and  sacred  treasures; 
in  the  other  case,  the  talents  out  of  the  rich  posses- 
sions of  the  departing  king. 

Nor  can  we  forget  either  the  other  phase  of  the  same 
figure  which  the  Apostle  employs  when  he  says  to  his 
'own  son'  and  substitute,  Timothy :  ' That  good  thing 
which  was  committed  unto  thee,  keep  by  the  Holy 
Ghost  which  dwelleth  in  us,'  nor  that  other  word  to 
the  same  Timothy,  which  says  :  '  O  Timothy!  keep  that 
which  was  committed  to  thy  trust,  and  avoid  profane 
and  vain  babblings,  and  oppositions  of  science,  falsely 
so  called.'  In  these  quotations,  the  treasure,  and  the 
rich  deposit,  is  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints ; 
the  solemn  message  of  love  and  peace  in  Jesus  Christ, 
which  was  entrusted,  first  of  all  to  those  preachers,  but 
as  truly  to  every  one  of  Christ's  disciples. 

So,  then,  the  metaphor  is  capable  of  two  applications. 
The  first  is  to  the  rich  treasure  and  solemn  trust  of 
our  own  nature,  of  our  own  souls ;  the  faculties  and 


V.29]     CHARGE  OF  PILGRIM  PRIESTS     319 

capacities,  precious  beyond  all  count,  rich  beyond  all 
else  that  a  man  has  ever  received.  Nothing  that  you 
have  is  half  so  much  as  that  which  you  are.  The  pos- 
session of  a  soul  that  knows  and  loves,  and  can  obey ; 
that  trusts  and  desires ;  that  can  yearn  and  reach  out 
to  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  God  in  Christ ;  of  a  conscience 
that  can  yield  to  His  command  ;  and  faculties  of  com- 
prehending and  understanding  what  comes  to  them 
from  Jesus  Christ — that  is  more  than  any  other  posses- 
sion, treasure,  or  trust.  That  which  you  and  I  carry 
with  us — the  infinite  possibilities  of  these  awful  spirits 
of  ours — the  tremendous  faculties  which  are  given  to 
every  human  soul,  and  which,  like  a  candle  plunged 
into  oxygen,  are  meant  to  burn  far  more  brightly 
under  the  stimulus  of  Christian  faith  and  the  posses- 
sion of  God's  truth,  are  the  rich  deposit  committed  to 
our  charge.  You  priests  of  the  living  God,  you  men 
and  women,  you  say  that  you  are  Christ's,  and  there- 
fore are  consecrated  to  a  nobler  priesthood  than  any 
other — to  yci  is  given  this  solemn  charge  :  '  That  good 
thing  which  is  committed  unto  thee,  keep  by  the  Holy 
Ghost  that  dwelleth  in  you.'  The  precious  treasure  of 
your  own  natures,  your  own  hearts,  your  own  under- 
standings, wills,  consciences,  desires  —  keep  these, 
until  they  are  weighed  in  the  house  of  the  Lord  in 
Jerusalem. 

And  in  like  manner,  taking  the  other  aspect  of  the 
metaphor — we  have  given  to  us,  in  order  that  we  may 
do  something  with  it,  that  great  deposit  and  treasure 
of  truth,  which  is  all  embodied  and  incarnated  in 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  It  is  bestowed  upon  us  that 
we  may  use  it  for  ourselves,  and  in  order  that  we 
may  carry  it  triumphantly  all  through  the  world. 
Possession  involves  re  sponsibility  always.     The  word 


320  EZRA  [CH.  VIII. 

of  salvation  is  given  to  us.  If  we  go  tampering  with 
it,  by  erroneous  apprehension,  by  unfair  usage,  by  fail- 
ing to  apply  it  to  our  own  daily  life ;  then  it  will  fade 
and  disappear  from  our  grasp.  It  is  given  to  us  in 
order  that  we  may  keep  it  safe,  and  carry  it  high  up., 
across  the  desert,  as  becomes  the  priests  of  the  most 
high  God. 

The  treasure  is  first — our  own  selves — with  all  that  we 
are  and  may  be,  under  the  stimulating  and  quickening 
influence  of  His  grace  and  Spirit.  The  treasure  is  next 
— His  great  word  of  salvation,  once  delivered  unto  the 
saints,  and  to  be  handed  on,  without  diminution  or 
alteration  in  its  fair  perspective  and  manifold  har- 
monies, to  the  generations  that  are  to  come.  So,  think 
of  yourselves  as  the  priests  of  God,  journeying  through 
the  wilderness,  with  the  treasures  of  the  Temple  and 
the  vessels  of  the  sacrifice  for  your  special  deposit  and 
charge. 

Further,  I  touch  on  the  command,  the  guardian- 
ship that  is  here  set  forth.  '  Watch  ye,  and  keep 
them.'  That  is  to  say,  I  suppose,  according  to  the 
ordinary  idiom  of  the  Old  Testament,  '  Watch,  in  order 
that  you  may  keep.'  Or  to  translate  it  into  other 
words :  The  treasure  which  is  given  into  our  hands 
requires,  for  its  safe  preservation,  unceasing  vigilance. 
Take  the  picture  of  my  text :  These  Jews  were  four 
months,  according  to  the  narrative,  in  travelling  from 
their  first  station  upon  their  journey  to  Jerusalem 
across  the  desert.  There  were  enemies  lying  in  wait 
for  them  by  the  way.  With  noble  self-restraint  and 
grand  chivalry,  the  leader  of  the  little  band  says : 
'I  was  ashamed  to  require  of  the  king  a  band  of 
soldiers  and  horsemen,  to  help  us  against  the  enemy  in 
the  way ;  because  we  had  spoken  unto  the  king,  saying, 


V.29]     CHARGE  OF  PILGRIM  PRIESTS     321 

The  hand  of  our  God  is  upon  all  them  for  good  that 
seek  Him  ;  but  His  power  and  His  wrath  is  against  all 
that  forsake  Him.'  And  so  they  would  not  go  to  him, 
cap  in  hand,  and  ask  him  to  give  them  a  guard  to  take 
care  of  them ;  but '  We  fasted  and  besought  our  God 
for  this ;  and  He  was  intreated  of  us.' 

Thus  the  little  company,  without  arms,  without  pro- 
tection, with  nothing  but  a  prayer  and  a  trust  to  make 
them  strong,  flung  themselves  into  the  pathless  desert 
with  all  those  precious  things  in  their  possession ;  and 
all  the  precaution  which  Ezra  took  was  to  lay  hold  of 
the  priests  in  the  little  party,  and  to  say :  '  Here !  all 
through  the  march  do  you  stick  by  these  precious 
things.  Whoever  sleeps,  do  you  w^atch.  Whoever  is 
careless,  be  you  vigilant.  Take  these  for  your  charge, 
and  remember  I  weigh  them  here  before  we  start,  and 
they  will  be  all  weighed  again  when  we  get  there.  So 
be  alert.' 

And  is  not  that  exactly  what  Christ  says  to  us? 
'  Watch ;  keep  them ;  be  vigilant,  that  ye  may  keep ; 
and  keep  them,  because  they  will  be  weighed  and 
registered  when  you  arrive  there.' 

I  cannot  do  more  than  touch  upon  two  or  three  of 
the  ways  in  w^hich  this  charge  may  be  worked  out,  in 
its  application  for  ourselves,  beginning  with  that  first 
one  w^hich  is  implied  in  the  words  of  the  text — un- 
slumbering  vigilance ;  then  trust,  like  the  trust  which  is 
glorified  in  the  context,  depending  only  on  '  the  good 
hand  of  our  God  upon  us ' ;  then  purity,  because,  as 
Ezra  said,  '  Ye  are  holy  unto  the  Lord.  The  vessels  are 
holy  also ';  and  therefore  ye  are  the  fit  persons  to  guard 
them.  And  besides  these,  there  is,  in  our  keeping  our 
trust,  a  method  which  does  not  apply  to  the  incident 
before  us  ;  namely,  use,  in  order  to  their  preservation. 

X 


322  EZRA  [CH.VIII. 

That  is  to  say,  first  of  all,  no  slumber;  not  a  moment's 
relaxation  ;  or  some  of  those  who  lie  in  wait  for  us  on 
the  way  will  be  down  upon  us,  and  some  of  the  precious 
things  will  go.  While  all  the  rest  of  the  wearied  camp 
slept,  the  guardians  of  the  treasure  had  to  outwatch  the 
stars.  While  others  might  straggle  on  the  march, 
lingering  here  or  there,  or  resting  on  some  patch  of 
green,  they  had  to  close  up  round  their  precious  charge; 
others  might  let  their  eyes  wander  from  the  path,  they 
had  ever  to  look  to  their  charge.  For  them  the  journey 
had  a  double  burden,  and  unslumbering  vigilance  was 
their  constant  duty. 

We  likewise  have  unslumberingly  and  ceaselessly  to 
watch  over  that  which  is  committed  to  our  charge. 
For,  depend  upon  it,  if  for  an  instant  we  turn  away  our 
heads,  the  thievish  birds  that  flutter  over  us  will  be 
down  upon  the  precious  seed  that  is  in  our  basket, 
or  that  we  have  sown  in  the  furrows,  and  it  will  be 
gone.    Watch,  that  ye  may  keep. 

And  then,  still  further,  see  how  in  this  story  before 
us  there  are  brought  out  very  picturesquely,  and  very 
simply,  deeper  lessons  still.  It  is  not  enough  that  a 
man  shall  be  for  ever  keeping  his  eye  upon  his  own 
character  and  his  own  faculties,  and  seeking  sedu- 
lously to  cultivate  and  improve  them,  as  he  that  must 
give  an  account.  There  must  be  another  look  than 
that.  Ezra  said,  in  effect,  '  Not  all  the  cohorts  of 
Babylon  can  help  us  ;  and  we  do  not  want  them.  We 
have  one  strong  hand  that  will  keep  us  safe ' ;  and  so 
he,  and  his  men,  with  all  this  mass  of  wealth,  so  tempt- 
ing to  the  wild  robbers  that  haunted  the  road,  flung 
themselves  into  the  desert,  knowing  that  all  along  it 
there  were,  as  he  says,  *  such  as  lay  in  wait  for  them.' 
His  confidence  was :  '  God  will  bring  us  all  safe  out 


V.29]     CHARGE  OF  PILGRIM  PRIESTS     323 

to  the  end  there ;  and  we  shall  carry  every  glittering 
piece  of  the  precious  things  that  we  brought  out  of 
Babylon  right  into  the  Temple  of  Jerusalem.'  Yet  he 
says,  '  Watch  ye  and  keep  them.' 

What  does  that  come  to  in  reference  to  our  religious 
experience  ?  Why  this :  '  Work  out  your  own  salva- 
tion with  fear  and  trembling ;  for  it  is  God  that 
worketh  in  you,  both  to  will  and  to  do  of  His  own  good 
pleasure.'  You  do  not  need  these  external  helps.  Fling 
yourself  wholly  upon  His  keeping  hand,  and  also 
watch  and  keep  yourselves.  '  I  know  in  whom  I  have 
believed,  and  that  He  is  able  to  keep  that  which  I  have 
committed  unto  Him  against  that  day,'  is  the  com- 
plement of  the  other  words,  'That  good  thing  which 
was  committed  unto  thee,  keep  by  the  Holy  Ghost.' 

So  guardianship  is,  first,  unceasing  vigilance;  and 
then  it  is  lowly  trust.  And  besides  that,  it  is  punctili- 
ous purity.  '  I  said  unto  them.  Ye  are  holy  unto  the 
Lord  ;  the  vessels  are  holy  unto  the  Lord.  Watch  ye, 
and  keep  them.' 

It  was  fitting  that  priests  should  carry  the  things 
that  belonged  to  the  Temple.  No  other  hands  but  con- 
secrated hands  had  a  right  to  touch  them.  To  none 
other  guardianship  but  the  guardianship  of  the  posses- 
sors of  a  symbolic  and  ceremonial  purity,  could  the 
vessels  of  a  symbolic  and  ceremonial  worship  be  en- 
trusted; and  to  none  others  but  the  possessors  of  real 
and  spiritual  holiness  can  the  treasures  of  the  true 
Temple,  of  an  inward  and  spiritual  worship,  be  en- 
trusted. '  Be  ye  clean  that  bear  the  vessels  of  the  Lord,' 
said  Isaiah  using  a  kindred  metaphor.  The  only  way 
to  keep  our  treasure  undiminished  and  untarnished, 
is  to  keep  ourselves  pure  and  clean. 

And,  lastly,  we  have  to  exercise  a  guardianship  which 


324  EZRA  [CH.  VIII. 

not  only  means  unslumbering  vigilance,  lowly  trust, 
punctilious  purity,  but  also  requires  the  constant  use 
of  the  treasure. 

•Watch  ye,  and  keep  them.'  Although  the  vessels 
which  those  priests  bore  through  the  desert  were 
used  for  no  service  during  all  the  weary  march,  they 
weighed  just  the  same  when  they  got  to  the  end  as 
at  the  beginning ;  though,  no  doubt,  even  their  fine  gold 
had  become  dim  and  tarnished  through  disuse.  Rut  if 
we  do  not  use  the  vessels  that  are  entrusted  to  our 
care,  they  will  not  weigh  the  same.  The  man  that 
wrapped  up  his  talent  in  the  napkin,  and  said,  •  Lo, 
there  thou  hast  that  is  thine,'  was  too  sanguine.  There 
was  never  an  unused  talent  rolled  up  in  a  handkerchief 
yet,  but  when  it  was  taken  out  and  put  into  the  scales 
it  was  lighter  than  when  it  was  committed  to  the 
keeping  of  the  earth.  Gifts  that  are  used  fructify. 
Capacities  that  are  strained  to  the  uttermost  increase. 
Service  strengthens  the  power  for  service  ;  and  just  as 
the  reward  for  work  is  more  work,  the  way  for  making 
ourselves  fit  for  bigger  things  is  to  do  the  things  that 
are  lying  by  us.  The  blacksmith's  arm,  the  sailor's  eye, 
the  organs  of  any  piece  of  handicraft,  as  we  all  know, 
are  strengthened  by  exercise;  and  so  it  is  in  this  higher 
region. 

And  so,  dear  brethren,  take  these  four  words— vigi- 
lance, trust,  purity,  exercise.  'Watch  ye,  and  keep 
them,  until  they  are  weighed  in  the  chambers  of  the 
House  of  the  Lord.' 

And,  lastly,  think  of  that  weighing  in  the  House 
of  the  Lord.  Cannot  you  see  the  picture  of  the  little 
band  when  they  finally  reach  the  goal  of  their  pilgrim- 
age; and  three  days  after  they  arrived,  as  the  narra- 
tive tells  us,  went  up  into  the  Temple,  and  there,  by 


V.29]     CHARGE  OF  PILGRIM  PRIESTS     325 

number  and  by  weight,  rendered  up  their  charge,  and 
were  clear  of  their  responsibility?  '  And  the  first  came 
and  said,  Lord,  thy  pound  hath  gained  ten  pounds. 
And  he  said,  Well,  thou  good  servant,  because  thou 
hast  been  faithful  in  a  very  little,  have  thou  authority 
over  ten  cities.' 

Oh !  how  that  thought  of  the  day  when  they  would 
empty  out  the  rich  treasure  upon  the  marble  pavement, 
and  clash  the  golden  vessels  into  the  scales,  must  have 
filled  their  hearts  with  vigilance  during  all  the  weary 
watches,  when  desert  stars  looked  down  upon  the 
slumbering  encampment,  and  they  paced  wakeful  all 
the  night.  And  how  the  thought,  too,  must  have 
filled  their  hearts  with  joy,  when  they  tried  to  picture 
to  themselves  the  sigh  of  satisfaction,  and  the  sense 
of  relief  with  which,  after  all  the  perils,  their  *feet 
would  stand  within  thy  gates,  O  Jerusalem,'  and  they 
would  be  able  to  say,  '  That  which  thou  hast  given  us, 
we  have  kept,  and  nothing  of  it  is  lost.' 

A  lifetime  would  be  a  small  expenditure  to  secure 
that ;  and  though  it  cannot  be  that  you  and  I  will 
meet  the  trial  and  the  weighing  of  that  great  day  with- 
out many  failures  and  much  loss,  yet  we  may  say : 
*  I  know  in  whom  I  have  believed,  and  that  He  is  able 
to  keep  my  deposit — whether  it  be  in  the  sense  of  that 
which  I  have  committed  unto  Him,  or  in  the  sense 
of  that  which  He  has  committed  unto  me — against 
that  day.'  We  may  hope  that,  by  His  gracious  help 
and  His  pitying  acceptance,  even  such  careless  stewards 
and  negligent  watchers  as  we  are,  may  lay  ourselves 
down  in  peace  at  the  last,  saying,  *  I  have  kept  the 
faith,'  and  may  be  awakened  by  the  word,  *  Well  done  I 
good  and  faithful  servant." 


THE  BOOK  O^  NEHEMTAH 
A  REFORMER'S  SCHOOLING 

'  The  words  of  Nehemiah  the  son  of  Hachaliah.  And  it  came  to  pass  in  the 
month  Chisleu,  in  the  twentieth  year,  as  I  was  in  Shushan  the  palace,  2.  That 
Hanani,  one  of  my  brethren,  came,  he  and  certain  men  of  Judah;  and  I  asked 
them  concerning  the  Jews  that  had  escaped,  which  were  left  of  the  captivity,  and 
concerning  Jerusalem.  3.  And  they  said  unto  me,  The  remnant  that  are  left  of 
the  captivity  there  in  the  province  are  in  great  affliction  and  reproach :  the  wall 
of  Jerusalem  also  is  broken  down,  and  the  gates  thereof  are  burned  with  fire. 
i.  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  I  heard  these  words,  that  I  sat  down  and  wept,  and 
mourned  certain  days,  and  fasted,  and  prayed  before  the  God  of  heaven,  5.  And 
said,  I  beseech  Thee,  O  Lord  God  of  heaven,  the  great  and  terrible  God,  that 
keepeth  covenant  and  mercy  for  them  that  love  Him  and  observe  His  command- 
ments :  6.  Let  Thine  ear  now  be  attentive,  and  Thine  eyes  open,  that  Thou  mayest 
hear  the  prayer  of  Thy  servant,  which  I  pray  before  Thee  now,  day  and  night,  for 
the  children  of  Israel  Thy  servants,  and  confess  the  sins  of  the  children  of  Israel, 
which  we  have  sinned  against  Thee :  both  I  and  my  father's  house  have  sinned. 
7.  We  have  dealt  very  corruptly  against  Thee,  and  have  not  kept  the  command- 
ments, nor  the  statutes,  nor  the  judgments,  which  Thou  commandedst  Thy  servant 
Moses.  8.  Remember,  1  beseech  Thee,  the  word  that  Thou  commandedst  Thy 
servant  Moses,  saying.  If  ye  transgress,  I  will  scatter  you  abroad  among  the 
nations :  9.  But  if  ye  turn  unto  Me,  and  keep  My  commandments,  and  do  them ; 
though  there  were  of  you  cast  out  unto  the  uttermost  part  of  the  heaven,  yet 
will  I  gather  them  from  thence,  and  will  bring  them  unto  the  place  that  I  have 
chosen  to  set  My  name  there.  10.  Now  these  are  Thy  servants  and  Thy  people, 
whom  Thou  hast  redeemed  by  Thy  great  power,  and  by  Thy  strong  hand.  11.  O 
Lord,  I  beseech  Thee,  let  now  Thine  ear  be  attentive  to  the  prayer  of  Thy  servant, 
and  to  the  prayer  of  Thy  servants,  who  desire  to  fear  Thy  name :  and  prosper, 
I  pray  Thee,  Thy  servant  this  day,  and  grant  him  mercy  in  the  sight  of  this 
man.    For  I  was  the  king's  cupbearer.'— Neh.  i.  1-11. 

The  date  of  the  completion  of  the  Temple  is  516  B.C. ; 
that  of  Nehemiah's  arrival  445  B.C.  The  colony  of 
returned  exiles  seems  to  have  made  little  progress 
during  that  long  period.  Its  members  settled  down, 
and  much  of  their  enthusiasm  cooled,  as  we  see 
from  the  reforms  which  Ezra  had  to  inaugurate 
fourteen  years  before  Nehemiah.  The  majority  of 
men,  even  if  touched  by  spiritual  fervour,  find  it  hard 

326 


vs.  1-11]    A  REFORMER'S  SCHOOLING      327 

to  keep  on  the  high  levels  for  long.  Breathing  is 
easier  lower  down.  As  is  often  the  case,  a  brighter 
flame  of  zeal  burned  in  the  bosoms  of  sympathisers  at 
a  distance  than  in  those  of  the  actual  workers,  whose 
contact  with  hard  realities  and  petty  details  disen- 
chanted them.  Thus  the  impulse  to  nobler  action 
came,  not  from  one  of  the  colony,  but  from  a  Jew  in 
the  court  of  the  Persian  king. 

This  passage  tells  us  how  God  prepared  a  man  for 
a  great  work,  and  how  the  man  prepared  himself. 

I.  Sad  tidings  and  their  effect  on  a  devout  servant 
of  God  (vs.  1-4).  The  time  and  place  are  precisely 
given.  '  The  month  Chisleu '  corresponds  to  the 
end  of  November  and  beginning  of  December.  'The 
twentieth  year'  is  that  of  Artaxerxes  (Neh.  ii.  1). 
*Shushan,'  or  Susa,  was  the  royal  winter  residence, 
and  '  the  palace '  was  '  a  distinct  quarter  of  the 
city,  occupying  an  artificial  eminence.'  Note  the 
absence  of  the  name  of  the  king.  Nehemiah  is  so 
familiar  with  his  greatness  that  he  takes  for  granted 
thai/  every  reader  can  fill  the  gaps.  But,  though  the 
omission  shows  how  large  a  space  the  court  occupied 
in  his  thoughts,  a  true  Jewish  heart  beat  below  the 
courtier's  robe.  That  flexibility  which  enabled  them 
to  stand  as  trusted  servants  of  the  kings  of  many 
lands,  and  yet  that  inflexible  adherence  to,  and  un- 
dying love  of,  Israel,  has  always  been  a  national 
characteristic.  We  can  think  of  this  youthful  cup- 
bearer as  yearning  for  one  glimpse  of  the  '  mountains 
round  about  Jerusalem'  while  he  filled  his  post  in 
Shushan. 

His  longings  were  kindled  into  resolve  by  intercourse 
with  a  little  party  of  Jews  from  Judaea,  among  whom 
was   his   own  brother.     They  had  been  to  see  how 


328         THE  BOOK  OF  NEHEMIAH      [ch.i. 

things  went  there,  and  the  fact  that  one  of  them  was 
a  member  of  Nehemiah's  family  seems  to  imply  that 
the  same  sentiments  belonged  to  the  whole  household. 
Eager  questions  brought  out  sorrowful  answers.  The 
condition  of  the  'remnant'  was  one  of  'great  affliction 
and  reproach,'  and  the  ground  of  the  reproach  was 
probably  (Neh.  ii.  17 ;  iv.  2-4)  the  still  ruined  fortifica- 
tions. 

It  has  been  supposed  that  the  breaking  down  of  the 
walls  and  burning  of  the  gates,  mentioned  in  verse  3, 
were  recent,  and  subsequent  to  the  events  recorded  in 
Ezra;  but  it  is  more  probable  that  the  project  for 
rebuilding  the  defences,  which  had  been  stopped  by 
superior  orders  (Ezra  iv.  12-16),  had  not  been  resumed, 
and  that  the  melancholy  ruins  were  those  which  had  met 
the  eyes  of  Zerubbabel  nearly  a  hundred  years  before. 
Communication  between  Shushan  and  Jerusalem  can- 
not have  been  so  infrequent  that  the  facts  now  borne 
in  on  Nehemiah  might  not  have  been  known  before. 
But  the  impression  made  by  facts  depends  largely  on 
their  narrator,  and  not  a  little  on  the  mood  of  the 
hearer.  It  was  one  thing  to  hear  general  statements, 
and  another  to  sit  with  one's  brother,  and  see  through 
his  eyes  the  dismal  failure  of  the  'remnant'  to  carry 
out  the  purpose  of  their  return.  So  the  story,  whether 
fresh  or  repeated  with  fresh  force,  made  a  deep  dint 
in  the  young  cupbearer's  heart,  and  changed  his  life's 
outlook.  God  prepares  His  servants  for  their  work  by 
laying  on  their  souls  a  sorrowful  realisation  of  the 
miseries  which  other  men  regard,  and  they  themselves 
have  often  regarded,  very  lightly.  The  men  who  have 
been  raised  up  to  do  great  work  for  God  and  men,  have 
always  to  begin  by  greatly  and  sadly  feeling  the  weight 
of  the  sins  and  sorrows  which  they  are  destined  to 


vs.  1-11]     A  REFORMER'S  SCHOOLING     329 

remove.  No  man  will  do  worthy  work  at  rebuilding 
the  walls  who  has  not  wept  over  the  ruins. 

So  Nehemiah  prepared  himself  for  his  work  by 
brooding  over  the  tidings  with  tears,  by  fasting  and 
by  prayer.  There  is  no  other  way  of  preparation. 
Without  the  sad  sense  of  men's  sorrows,  there  will  be 
no  earnestness  in  alleviating  them,  nor  self-sacrificing 
devotion ;  and  without  much  prayer  there  will  be  little 
consciousness  of  weakness  or  dependence  on  divine 
help. 

Note  the  grand  and  apparently  immediate  resolution 
to  throw  up  brilliant  prospects  and  face  a  life  of 
danger  and  suffering  and  toil.  Nehemiah  was  evidently 
a  favourite  with  the  king,  and  had  the  ball  at  his  foot. 
But  the  ruins  on  Zion  were  more  attractive  to  him 
than  the  splendours  of  Shushan,  and  he  willingly  flung 
away  his  chances  of  a  great  career  to  take  his  share 
of  '  affliction  and  reproach.'  He  has  never  had  justice 
done  him  in  popular  estimation.  He  is  not  one  of  the 
well-known  biblical  examples  of  heroic  self-abandon- 
lent ;  but  he  did  just  what  Moses  did,  and  the  eulogium 
if  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  fits  him  as  well  as  the 
lawgiver;  for  he  too  chose  'rather  to  suffer  with  the 
people  of  God  than  to  enjoy  pleasures  for  a  season.' 
oo  must  we  all,  in  our  several  ways,  do,  if  we  would 
iiave  a  share  in  building  the  walls  of  the  city  of  God. 

II.  The  prayer  (vs.  5-11).  The  course  of  thought  in 
this  prayer  is  very  instructive.  It  begins  with  solemnly 
laying  before  God  His  own  great  name,  as  the  mightiest 
plea  with  Him,  and  the  strongest  encouragement  to  the 
suppliant.  That  commencement  is  no  mere  proper  in- 
vocation, conventionally  regarded  as  the  right  way  of 
beginning,  but  it  expresses  the  petitioner's  effort  to 
lay  hold  on  God's  character  as  the  ground  of  his  hope 


330         THE  BOOK  OF  NEHEMIAH      [oh.i. 

of  answer.  The  terms  employed  remarkably  blend 
what  Nehemiah  had  learned  from  Persian  religion  and 
what  from  a  better  source.  He  calls  upon  Jehovah, 
the  great  name  which  was  the  special  possession  of 
Israel.  He  also  uses  the  characteristic  Persian  designa- 
tion of  '  the  God  of  heaven,'  and  identifies  the  bearer  of 
that  name,  not  with  the  god  to  whom  it  was  originally 
applied,  but  with  Israel's  Jehovah.  He  takes  the  crown 
from  the  head  of  the  false  deity,  and  lays  it  at  the  feet 
of  the  God  of  his  fathers.  Whatsoever  names  for  the 
Supreme  Excellence  any  tongues  have  coined,  they  all 
belong  to  our  God,  in  so  far  as  they  are  true  and  noble. 
The  modern  'science  of  comparative  religion'  yields 
many  treasures  which  should  be  laid  up  in  Jehovah's 
Temple. 

But  the  rest  of  the  designations  are  taken  from  the 
Old  Testament,  as  was  fitting.  The  prayer  throughout 
IS  full  of  allusions  and  quotations,  and  shows  how  this 
cupbearer  of  Artaxerxes  had  fed  his  young  soul  on 
God's  word,  and  drawn  thence  the  true  nourishment 
of  high  and  holy  thoughts  and  strenuous  resolutions 
and  self-sacrificing  deeds.  Prayers  which  are  cast  in  ' 
the  mould  of  God's  own  revelation  of  Himself  will  not 
fail  of  answer.  True  prayer  catches  up  the  promises 
that  flutter  down  to  us,  and  flings  them  up  again  like 
arrows. 

The  prayer  here  is  all  built,  then,  on  that  name  of 
Jehovah,  and  on  what  the  name  involves,  chiefly  on 
the  thought  of  God  as  keeping  covenant  and  mercy. 
He  has  bound  Himself  in  solemn,  irrefragable  compact, 
to  a  certain  line  of  action.  Men  '  know  where  to  have 
Him,'  if  we  may  venture  on  the  familiar  expression. 
He  has  given  us  a  chart  of  His  course,  and  He  will 
adhere  to  it.     Therefore  we  can  go  to  Him  with  our 


V    111]   A  REFORMER'S  SCHOOLING      331 

prayers,  so  long  as  we  keep  these  within  the  ample 
space  of  His  covenant,  and  ourselves  within  its  terms, 
by  loving  obedience. 

The  petition  that  God's  ears  might  be  sharpened  and 
His  eyes  open  to  the  prayer  is  cast  in  a  familiar  naould. 
It  boldly  transfers  to  Him  not  only  the  semblance  of 
man's  form,  but  also  the  likeness  of  His  processes 
of  action.  Hearing  the  cry  for  help  precedes  active 
intervention  in  the  case  of  men's  help,  and  the  strong 
imagery  of  the  prayer  conceives  of  similar  sequence  in 
God.  But  the  figure  is  transparent,  and  the  '  anthropo- 
morphism' so  plain  that  no  mistakes  can  arise  in  its 
interpretation. 

Note,  too,  the  light  touch  with  which  the  suppliant's 
relation  to  God  ('  Thy  servant ')  and  his  long-continued 
cry  ('day  and  night')  are  but  just  brought  in  for  a 
moment  as  pleas  for  a  gracious  hearing.  The  prayer 
is  'for  Thy  servants  the  children  of  Israel,'  in  which 
designation,  as  the  next  clauses  show,  the  relation 
established  by  God,  and  not  the  conduct  of  men,  is 
pleaded  as  a  reason  for  an  answer. 

The  mention  of  that  relation  brings  at  once  to 
Nehemiah's  mind  the  terrible  unfaithfulness  to  it  which 
had  marked,  and  still  continued  to  mark,  the  whole 
nation.  So  lowly  confession  follows  (vs.  6,  7).  Un- 
profitable servants  they  had  indeed  been.  The  more 
loftily  we  think  of  our  privileges,  the  more  clearly 
should  we  discern  our  sins.  Nothing  leads  a  true  heart 
to  such  self-ashamed  penitence  as  reflection  on  God's 
mercy.  If  a  man  thinks  that  God  has  taken  him  for 
a  servant,  the  thought  should  bow  him  with  conscious 
unworthiness,  not  lift  him  in  self-satisfaction.  Nehe- 
miah's confession  not  only  sprung  from  the  thought 
of  Israel's  vocation,  so  poorly  fulfilled,  but  it  also  laid 


332         THE  BOOK  OF  NEHEMIAH      [ch.l 

the  groundwork  for  his  further  petitions.  It  is  useless 
to  ask  God  to  help  us  to  repair  the  wastes  if  we  do  not 
cast  out  the  sins  which .  have  made  them.  The  be- 
ginning of  all  true  healing  of  sorrow  is  confession  of 
sins.  Many  promising  schemes  for  the  alleviation  of 
national  and  other  distresses  have  come  to  nothing 
because,  unlike  Nehemiah's,  they  did  not  begin 
with  prayer,  or  prayed  for  help  without  acknowledg- 
ing sin. 

And  the  man  who  is  to  do  work  for  God  and  to  get 
God  to  bless  his  work  must  not  be  content  with 
acknowledging  other  people's  sins,  but  must  always 
say,  *We  have  sinned,'  and  not  seldom  say,  *I  have 
sinned.'  That  penitent  consciousness  of  evil  is  indis- 
pensable to  all  who  would  make  their  fellows  happier. 
God  works  with  bruised  reeds.  The  sense  of  individual 
transgression  gives  wonderful  tenderness,  patience 
amid  gainsaying,  submission  in  failure,  dependence  on 
God  in  difficulty,  and  lowliness  in  success.  Without 
it  we  shall  do  little  for  ourselves  or  for  anybody 
else. 

The  prayer  next  reminds  God  of  His  own  words 
(vs.  8,  9),  freely  quoted  and  combined  from  several 
passages  (Lev.  xxvi.  33-45;  Deut.  iv.  25-31,  etc.).  The 
application  of  these  passages  to  the  then  condition  of 
things  is  at  first  sight  somewhat  loose,  since  part  of 
the  people  were  already  restored ;  and  the  purport  of 
the  prayer  is  not  the  restoration  of  the  remainder,  but 
the  deliverance  of  those  already  in  the  land  from  their 
distresses.  Still,  the  promise  gives  encouragement  to 
the  prayer  and  is  powerful  with  God,  inasmuch  as  it 
could  not  be  said  to  have  been  fulfilled  by  so  incom- 
plete a  restoration  as  that  at  present  realised.  What 
God  does  must  be  perfectly  done ;  and  His  great  word 


vsl-11]    A  REFORMER'S  SCHOOLING      333 

is  not  exhausted  so  long  as  any  fuller  accomplishment 
of  it  can  be  imagined. 

The  reminder  of  the  promise  is  clinched  (v.  10)  by 
the  same  appeal  as  formerly  to  the  relation  to  Himself 
into  which  God  had  been  pleased  to  bring  the  nation, 
with  an  added  reference  to  former  deeds,  such  as  the 
Exodus,  in  which  His  strong  hand  had  delivered  them. 
We  are  always  sure  of  an  answer  if  we  ask  God  not  to 
contradict  Himself.  Since  He  has  begun  He  will  make 
an  end.  It  will  never  be  said  of  Him  that  He  '  began  to 
build  and  was  not  able  to  finish.'  His  past  is  a  mirror 
in  which  we  can  read  His  future.  The  return  from 
Babylon  is  implied  in  the  Exodus. 

A  reiteration  of  earlier  words  follows,  with  the 
addition  that  Nehemiah  now  binds,  as  it  were,  his 
single  prayer  in  a  bundle  with  those  of  the  like-minded 
in  Israel.  He  gathers  single  ears  into  a  sheaf,  which 
he  brings  as  a  *  wave-offering.'  And  then,  in  one 
humble  little  sentence  at  the  end,  he  puts  his  only 
personal  request.  The  modesty  of  the  man  is  lovely. 
His  prayer  has  been  all  for  the  people.  Remarkably 
enough,  there  is  no  definite  petition  in  it.  He  never 
once  says  right  out  what  he  so  earnestly  desires,  and 
the  absence  of  specific  requests  might  be  laid  hold  of 
by  sceptical  critics  as  an  argument  against  the  genuine- 
ness of  the  prayer.  But  it  is  rather  a  subtle  trait, 
on  which  no  forger  would  have  been  likely  to  hit. 
Sometimes  silence  is  the  very  result  of  entire  occupa- 
tion of  mind  with  a  thought.  He  says  nothing  about 
the  particular  nature  of  his  request,  just  because  he  is 
so  full  of  it.  But  he  does  ask  for  favour  in  the  eyes  of 
'  this  man,'  and  that  he  may  be  prospered  '  this  day.' 

So  this  was  his  morning  prayer  on  that  eventful  day, 
which  was  to  settle  his  life's  work.    The  '  certain  days 


334         THE  BOOK  OF  NEHEMIAH      [ch.i. 

of  solitary  meditation  on  his  nation's  griefs  had  led 
to  a  resolution.  He  says  nothing  about  his  long  brood- 
ing, his  slow  decision,  his  conflicts  with  lower  projects 
of  personal  ambition.  He  'burns  his  own  smoke,'  as 
we  all  should  learn  to  do.  But  he  asks  that  the 
capricious  and  potent  will  of  the  king  may  be  inclined 
to  grant  his  request.  If  our  morning  supplication  is 
•  Prosper  Thy  servant  this  day,'  and  our  purposes  are 
for  God's  glory,  we  need  not  fear  facing  anybody. 
However  powerful  Artaxerxes  was,  he  was  but  'this 
man,'  not  God.  The  phrase  does  not  indicate  contempt 
or  undervaluing  of  the  solid  reality  of  his  absolute 
power  over  Nehemiah,  but  simply  expresses  the  con- 
viction that  the  king,  too,  was  a  subject  of  God's,  and 
that  his  heart  was  in  the  hand  of  Jehovah,  to  mould 
as  He  would.  The  consciousness  of  dependence  on  God 
and  the  habit  of  communion  with  Him  give  a  man  a 
clear  sight  of  the  limitations  of  earthly  dignities,  and 
a  modest  boldness  which  is  equally  remote  from  rude- 
ness and  servility. 

Thus  prepared  for  whatever  might  be  the  issue  of 
that  eventful  day,  the  young  cupbearer  rose  from  his 
knees,  drew  a  long  breath,  and  went  to  his  work. 
Well  for  us  if  we  go  to  ours,  whether  it  be  a  day  of 
crisis  or  of  commonplace,  in  like  fashion !  Then  we 
shall  have  like  defence  and  like  calmness  of  heart. 


THE  CHURCH  AND  SOCIAL  EVILS 

*It  came  to  pass,  ■when  I  heard  these  words,  that  I  sat  down  and  wept,  and 
mourned  certain  days,  and  fasted,  and  prayed  before  the  God  of  heaven.'— 
Neh.  i.  i. 

Ninety  years  had  passed  since  the  returning  exiles  had 
arrived  at  Jerusalem.     They  had  encountered  many 


V.4]       CHURCH  AND  SOCIAL  EVILS       335 

difficulties  which  had  marred  their  progress  and  cooled 
their  enthusiasm.  The  Temple,  indeed,  was  rebuilt, 
but  Jerusalem  lay  in  ruins,  and  its  walls  remained  as 
they  had  been  left,  by  Nebuchadnezzar's  siege,  some 
century  and  a  hali  before.  A  little  party  of  pious 
pilgrims  had  gone  from  Persia  to  the  city,  and  had 
come  back  to  Shushan  with  a  sad  story  of  weakness 
and  despondency,  affliction  and  hostility.  One  of  the 
travellers  had  a  brother,  a  youth  named  Nehemiah, 
who  was  a  cup-bearer  in  the  court  of  the  Persian  king. 
Living  in  a  palace,  and  surrounded  with  luxury,  his 
heart  was  with  his  brethren;  and  the  ruins  of  Jeru- 
salem were  dearer  to  him  than  the  pomp  of  Shushan. 

My  text  tells  how  the  young  cupbearer  was  affected 
by  the  tidings,  and  how  he  wept  and  prayed  before 
God.  The  accurate  dates  given  in  this  book  show  that 
this  period  of  brooding  contemplation  of  the  miseries 
of  his  brethren  lasted  for  four  months.  Then  he  took 
a  great  resolution,  flung  up  brilliant  prospects,  identi- 
fied himself  with  the  afflicted  colony,  and  asked  for 
leave  to  go  and  share,  and,  if  it  might  be,  to  redress, 
the  sorrows  which  had  made  so  deep  a  dint  upon  his 
heart. 

Now,  I  think  that  this  vivid  description,  drawn  by 
himself,  of  the  emotions  excited  in  Nehemiah  by  his 
countrymen's  sorrows,  which  influenced  his  whole 
future,  contains  some  very  plain  lessons  for  Christian 
people,  the  observance  of  which  is  every  day  becoming 
more  imperative  by  reason  of  the  drift  of  public 
opinion,  and  the  new  prominence  which  is  being  given 
to  so-called  *  social  questions.'  I  wish  to  gather  up 
one  or  two  of  these  lessons  for  you  now. 

I.  First,  then,  note  the  plain  Christian  duty  of 
sympathetic  contemplation  of  surrounding  sorrows. 


336         THE  BOOK  OF  NEHEMIAH      [ch.i. 

Nehemiah  might  have  made  a  great  many  very  good 
excuses  for  treating  lightly  the  tidings  that  his  brother 
had  brought  him.  He  might  have  said :  '  Jerusalem  is 
a  long  way  off.  I  have  my  own  work  to  do ;  it  is  no 
part  of  my  business  to  rebuild  the  walls  of  Jerusalem. 
I  am  the  King's  cupbearer.  They  went  with  their  eyes 
open,  and  experience  has  shown  that  the  people  who 
knew  when  they  were  well  off,  and  stayed  where  they 
were,  were  a  great  deal  wiser.'  These  were  not  his 
excuses.  He  let  the  tidings  fill  his  heart,  and  burn 
there. 

Now,  the  first  condition  of  sympathy  is  knowledge ; 
and  the  second  is  attending  to  what  we  do  know. 
Nehemiah  had  probably  known,  in  a  kind  of  vague 
way,  for  many  a  day  how  things  were  going  in 
Palestine.  Communications  between  it  and  Persia 
were  not  so  difficult  but  that  there  would  come  plenty 
of  Government  despatches ;  and  a  man  at  headquarters 
who  had  the  ear  of  the  monarch,  was  not  likely  to  be 
ignorant  of  what  was  going  on  in  that  part  of  his 
dominions.  But  there  is  all  the  difference  between  hear- 
ing vague  general  reports,  and  sitting  and  hearing  your 
own  brother  tell  you  what  he  had  seen  with  his  own 
eyes.  So  the  impression  which  had  existed  before  was 
all  inoperative  until  it  was  kindled  by  attention  to  the 
facts  which  all  the  time  had  been,  in  some  degree, 
known. 

Now,  how  many  of  us  are  there  that  know — and  don't 
know — what  is  going  on  round  about  us  in  the  slums 
and  back  courts  of  this  city?  How  many  of  us  are 
there  who  are  habitually  ignorant  of  what  we  actually 
know,  because  we  never,  as  we  say,  '  give  heed '  to  it. 
•  I  did  not  think  of  that,'  is  a  very  poor  excuse  about 
matters  concerning  which  there  is  knowledge,  whether 


V.  4]       CHURCH  AND  SOCIAL  EVILS       837 

there  is  thought  or  not.  And  so  I  want  to  press  upon 
all  you  Christian  people  the  plain  duty  of  knowing 
what  you  do  know,  and  of  giving  an  ample  place  in 
your  thoughts  to  the  stark  staring  facts  around  us. 

Why !  loads  of  people  at  present  seem  to  think  that 
the  miseries,  and  hideous  vices,  and  sodden  immorality, 
and  utter  heathenism,  which  are  found  down  amongst 
the  foundations  of  every  civic  community  are  as 
indispensable  to  progress  as  the  noise  of  the  wheels  of 
a  train  is  to  its  advancement,  or  as  the  bilge-water  in 
a  wooden  ship  is  to  keep  its  seams  tight.  So  we  prate 
about  'civilisation,'  which  means  turning  men  into 
cities.  If  agglomerating  people  into  these  great  com- 
munities, which  makes  so  aw^ful  a  feature  of  modern 
life,  be  necessarily  attended  by  such  abominations  as 
we  live  amongst  and  never  think  about,  then,  better 
that  there  had  never  been  civilisation  in  such  a  sense 
at  all.  Every  consideration  of  communion  with  and 
conformity  to  Jesus  Christ,  of  loyalty  to  His  words, 
of  a  true  sense  of  brotherhood  and  of  lower  things — 
such  as  self-interest — every  consideration  demands  that 
Christian  people  shall  take  to  their  hearts,  in  a  fashion 
that  the  churches  have  never  done  yet,  '  the  condition 
of  England  question,'  and  shall  ask,  '  Lord !  what 
wouldst  Thou  have  me  to  do  ? ' 

I  do  not  care  to  enter  upon  controversy  raised  by 
recent  utterances,  the  motive  of  which  may  be  worthy 
of  admiration,  though  the  expression  cannot  be 
acquitted  of  the  charge  of  exaggeration,  to  the  effect 
that  the  Christian  churches  as  a  whole  have  been  care- 
less of  the  condition  of  the  people.  It  is  not  true  in 
its  absolute  sense.  I  suppose  that,  taking  the  country 
over,  the  majority  of  the  members  of,  at  all  events  the 
Nonconformist    churches    and    congregations,  are    in 

Y 


838         THE  BOOK  OF  NEHEMIAH      [ch.l 

receipt  of  weekly  wages  or  belong  to  the  upper  ranks 
of  the  working-classes,  and  that  the  lever  which  has 
lifted  them  to  these  upper  ranks  has  been  God's  Gospel. 
I  suppose  it  will  be  admitted  that  the  past  indifference 
with  which  we  are  charged  belonged  to  the  whole 
community,  and  that  the  new  sense  of  responsibility 
which  has  marked,  and  blessedly  marked,  recent  years, 
is  largely  owing  to  political  and  other  causes  which 
have  lately  come  into  operation.  I  suppose  it  will  not 
be  denied  that,  to  a  very  large  extent,  any  efforts  which 
have  been  made  in  the  past  for  the  social,  intellectual, 
and  moral,  and  religious  elevation  of  the  people  have 
had  their  impulse,  and  to  a  large  extent  their  support, 
both  pecuniary  and  active,  from  Christian  churches  and 
individuals.  All  that  is  perfectly  true  and,  I  believe, 
undeniable.  But  it  is  also  true  that  there  remains  an 
enormous,  shameful,  dead  mass  of  inertness  in  our 
churches,  and  that,  unless  we  can  break  up  that,  the 
omens  are  bad,  bad  for  society,  worse  for  the  church. 
If  cholera  is  raging  in  the  slums,  the  suburbs  will  not 
escape.  If  the  hovels  are  infected,  the  mansions  will 
have  to  pay  their  tribute  to  the  disease.  If  we  do  not 
recognise  the  brotherhood  of  the  suffering  and  the 
sinful,  in  any  other  fashion — '  Then,'  as  a  great  teacher 
told  us  a  generation  ago  now,  and  nobody  paid  any 
attention  to  him,  *  then  they  will  begin  and  show  you 
that  they  are  your  brethren  by  killing  some  of  you.' 
And  so  self-preservation  conjoins  with  loftier  motives  to 
make  this  sympathetic  observation  of  the  surrounding 
sorrows  the  plainest  of  Christian  duties. 

II.  Secondly,  such  a  realisation  of  the  dark  facts 
is  indispensable  to  all  true  work  for  alleviating 
them. 

There  is  no  way  of  helping  men  but  by  bearing  what 


V.  4]       CHURCH  AND  SOCIAL  EVILS       839 

they  bear.  No  man  will  ever  lighten  a  sorrow  of 
which  he  has  not  himself  felt  the  pressure.  Jesus 
Christ's  Cross,  to  which  we  are  ever  appealing  as  the 
ground  of  our  redemption  and  the  anchor  of  our  hope, 
is  these,  thank  God  !  But  it  is  more  than  these.  It  is 
the  pattern  for  our  lives,  and  it  lays  down,  with 
stringent  accuracy  and  completeness,  the  enduring  con- 
ditions of  helping  the  sinful  and  the  sorrowful.  The 
'  saviours  of  society '  have  still,  in  lower  fashion,  to  be 
crucified.  Jesus  Christ  would  never  have  been  'the 
Lamb  of  God  that  bore  away  the  sins  of  the  world' 
unless  He  Himself  had '  taken  our  infirmities  and  borne 
our  sicknesses.'  No  work  of  any  real  use  will  be  done 
except  by  those  whose  hearts  have  bled  with  the  feel-  \ 
ing  of  the  miseries  which  they  set  themselves  to  • 
cure. 

Oh !  we  all  want  a  far  fuller  realisation  of  that 
sympathetic  spirit  of  the  pitying  Christ,  if  we  are  ever 
to  be  of  any  use  in  the  world,  or  to  help  the  miseries 
of  any  of  our  brethren.  Such  a  sorrowful  and  partici- 
pating contemplation  of  men's  sorrows  springing  from 
men's  sins  will  give  tenderness  to  our  words,  will  give 
patience,  will  soften  our  whole  bearing.  Help  that  is  Jh. 
flung  to  people,  as  you  might  fling  a  bone  to  a  dog, 
hurts  those  whom  it  tries  to  help,  and  patronising  help 
is  help  that  does  little  good,  and  lecturing  help  does 
little  more.  You  must  take  blind  beggars  by  the  hand 
if  you  are  going  to  make  them  see ;  and  you  must  not 
be  afraid  to  lay  your  white,  clean  fingers  upon  the 
feculent  masses  of  corruption  in  the  leper's  glistening 
whiteness  if  you  are  going  to  make  him  whole.  Go 
down  in  order  to  lift,  and  remember  that  without 
sympathy  there  is  no  sufficient  help,  and  without  com- 
munion with  Christ  there  is  no  sufficient  sympathy. 


340         THE  BOOK  OF  NEHEMIAH      [cm.!. 

III.  Thirdly,  such  realisation  of  surrounding  sorrows 
should  drive  to  conimunion  Tvith  God. 

Nehemiah  wept  and  mourned,  and  that  was  well. 
But  between  his  weeping  and  mourning  and  his 
practical  work  there  had  to  be  still  another  link  of 
connection.  '  He  wept  and  mourned,'  and  because  he 
was  sad  he  turned  to  God,  'and  I  fasted  and  prayed 
certain  days.'  There  he  got  at  once  comfort  for  his 
sorrows,  his  sympathies,  and  deepening  of  his  sym- 
pathies, and  thence  he  drew  inspiration  that  made  him 
a  hero  and  a  martyr.  So  all  true  service  for  the  world 
must  begin  with  close  communion  with  God. 

There  was  a  book  published  several  years  since 
which  made  a  great  noise  in  its  little  day,  and  called 
itself  The  Service  of  Man,  which  service  it  proposed  to 
substitute  for  the  effete  conception  of  worship  as  the 
service  of  God.  The  service  of  man  is,  then,  best  done 
when  it  is  the  service  of  God.  I  suppose  nowadays  it 
is  '  old-fashioned '  and  '  narrow,'  which  is  the  sin  of  sins 
at  present,  but  I  for  my  part  have  very  little  faith  in 
the  persistence  and  wide  operation  of  any  philanthropic 
motives  except  the  highest — namely,  compassion  caught 
from  Jesus  Christ.  I  do  not  believe  that  you  will  get 
men,  year  in  and  year  out,  to  devote  themselves  in  any 
considerable  numbers  to  the  service  of  man  unless  you 
appeal  to  this  highest  of  motives.  You  may  enlist  a 
little  corps — and  God  forbid  that  I  should  deny  such  a 
plain  fact — of  selecter  spirits  to  do  purely  secular 
alleviative  work,  with  an  entire  ignoring  of  Christian 
motives,  but  you  will  never  get  the  army  of  workers 
that  is  needed  to  grapple  with  the  facts  of  our  present 
condition,  unless  you  touch  the  very  deepest  springs  of 
conduct,  and  these  are  to  be  found  in  communion  with 
God.    All  the  rest  is  surface  drainage.    Get  down  to 


Y.  4]       CHURCH  AND  SOCIAL  EVILS       841 

the  love  of  God,  and  the  love  of  men  therefrom,  and 
you  have  got  an  Artesian  well  which  will  bubble  up 
unfailingly. 

And  I  have  not  much  faith  in  remedies  which  ignore 
religion,  and  are  brought,  without  communion  with 
God,  as  sufficient  for  the  disease.  I  do  not  want  to  say 
one  word  that  might  seem  to  depreciate  what  are  good 
and  valid  and  noble  efforts  in  their  several  spheres. 
There  is  no  need  for  antagonism — rather,  Christian 
men  are  bound  by  every  consideration  to  help  to  the 
utmost  of  their  power,  even  in  the  incomplete  attempts 
that  are  made  to  grapple  with  social  problems.  There 
is  room  enough  for  us  all.  But  sure  I  am  that  until 
grapes  and  waterbeds  cure  smallpox,  and  a  spoonful  < 
of  cold  water  puts  out  Vesuvius,  you  will  not  cure  the  ^ 
evils  of  the  body  politic  by  any  lesser  means  than  the 
application  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ. 

We  hear  a  great  deal  to-day  about  a  '  social  gospel,' 
and  I  am  glad  of  the  conception,  and  of  the  favour 
which  it  receives.  Only  let  us  remember  that  the 
Gospel  is  social  second,  and  individual  first.  And  that 
if  you  get  the  love  of  God  and  obedience  to  Jesus  Christ 
into  a  man's  heart  it  will  be  like  putting  gas  into  a 
balloon,  it  will  go  up,  and  the  man  will  get  out  of  the 
slums  fast  enough ;  and  he  will  not  be  a  slave  to  the 
vices  of  the  world  much  longer,  and  you  will  have  done 
more  for  him  and  for  the  wide  circle  that  he  may 
influence  than  by  any  other  means.  I  do  not  want  to 
depreciate  any  helpers,  but  I  say  it  is  the  work  of  the 
Christian  church  to  carry  to  the  world  the  only  thing  ! 
that  will  make  men  deeply  and  abidingly  happy, 
because  it  will  make  them  good. 

IV.  And   so,  lastly,  such    sympathy   should   be   the 
parent  of  a  noble,  self-sacrificing   life.     Look  at  the 


y 


342         THE  BOOK  OF  NEHEMIAH       [ch.l 

man  in  our  text.  He  had  the  ball  at  his  feet.  He  had 
the  entrSe  of  a  court,  and  the  ear  of  a  king.  Brilliant 
prospects  were  opening  before  him,  but  his  brethren's 
sufferings  drew  him,  and  with  a  noble  resolution  of 
self-sacrifice,  he  shut  himself  out  from  the  former  and 
went  into  the  wilderness.  He  is  one  of  the  Scripture 
characters  that  never  have  had  due  honour — a  hero, 
a  saint,  a  martyr,  a  reformer.  He  did,  though  in  a 
smaller  sphere,  the  very  same  thing  that  the  writer  of 
the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  magnified  with  his  splendid 
eloquence,  in  reference  to  the  great  Lawgiver,  'And 
chose  rather  to  suffer  affliction  with  the  people  of  God,' 
and  to  turn  his  back  upon  the  dazzlements  of  a  court, 
than  to  '  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  sin  for  a  season,'  whilst 
his  brethren  were  suffering. 

Now,  dear  friends !  the  letter  of  the  example  may  be 
put  aside;  the  spirit  of  it  must  be  observed.  If 
Christians  are  to  do  the  work  that  they  can  do,  and 
that  Christ  has  put  them  into  this  world  that  they 
may  do,  there  must  be  self-sacrifice  with  it.  There  is 
no  shirking  that  obligation,  and  there  is  no  discharg- 
ing our  duty  without  it.  You  and  I,  in  our  several 
ways,  are  as  much  under  the  sway  of  that  absolute 
law,  that  '  if  a  corn  of  wheat  fall  into  the  ground  and 
die,  it  brings  forth  fruit,'  as  ever  was  Jesus  Christ  or 
His  Apostles.  I  have  nothing  to  say  about  the  manner 
of  the  sacrifice.  It  is  no  part  of  my  business  to  pre- 
scribe to  you  details  of  duty.  It  is  my  business  to  insist 
on  the  principles  which  must  regulate  these,  and  of 
these  principles  in  application  to  Christian  service 
there  is  none  more  stringent  than — '  I  will  not  offer  unto 
my  God  burnt-offering  of  that  which  doth  cost  me 
nothing.' 

I  am  sure  that,  under  God,  the  great  remedy  for 


V.  4]      *OVER  AGAINST  HIS  HOUSE*      343 

social  evils  lies  mainly  here,  that  the  bulk  of  professing  f 
Christians  shall  recognise  and  discharge  their  responsi-  \ 
bilities.     It  is  not  ministers,    city  missionaries,  Bible- 
women,  or  any  other  paid  people  that  can  do  the  work. 
It  is  by  Christian  men  and  by  Christian  women,  and, 
if  I  might  use  a  very  vulgar  distinction  w^hich  has  a 
meaning  in  the  present  connection,  very  specially  by 
Christian  ladies,  taking  their  part  in  the  work  amongst 
the  degraded  and  the  outcasts,  that  our  sorest  diffi- 
culties and  problems  will  be  solved.    If  a  church  does    i 
not  face  these,  well,  all  I  can  say  is,  its  light  will    i 

go  out ;  and  the  sooner  the  better.     '  If  thou  forbear    < 

.  •  ^ 

to  deliver  them  that  are  appointed  to  death,  and  say,    | 

Behold !   I  knew  it  not,  shall  not  He  that  weigheth    ; 

the  hearts  consider  it,  and  shall  He  not  render  to  every 

man  according  to  his  work  ? '    And,  on  the  other  hand, 

there  are  no  blessings  more  rich,  select,  sweet,  and  i 

abiding,  than  are  to  be  found  in  sharing  the  sorrow  of  I 

the  Man  of  Sorrows,  and  carrying  the  message  of  His  ] 

pity  and  His  redemption  to  an  outcast  world.     '  If  thou  ! 

draw  out  thy    soul  to   the    hungry,  and    satisfy    the  | 

afflicted  soul,  the  Lord  shall  satisfy  thy  soul ;  and  thou  | 

shalt  be  as  a  watered  garden,  and  as  a  spring  of  water  | 

whose  waters  fail  not.'  ^ 


'OVER  AGAINST  HIS  HOUSE' 

'The  priests  repaired  every  one  over  against  his  house.'— Neh.  iii.  28. 

The  condition  of  our  great  cities  has  lately  been  forced 
upon  public  attention,  and  all  kinds  of  men  have  been 
offering  their  panaceas.  I  am  not  about  to  enter 
upon    that    discussion,   but   I    am   glad   to    seize   the 


344         THE  BOOK  OF  NEHEMIAH     [ch.iii. 

opportunity  of  saying  one  or  tTvo  things  which  I  think 
very  much  need  to  be  said  to  individual  Christian 
people  about  their  duty  in  the  matter.  'Every  man 
over  against  his  house '  is  the  principle  I  desire  to 
commend  to  you  as  going  a  long  way  to  solve  the 
problem  of  how  to  sweeten  the  foul  life  of  our  modern 
cities. 

Th^  story  from  which  my  text  is  taken  does  not  need 
to  detain  us  long.  Nehemiah  and  his  little  band  of 
exiles  have  come  back  to  a  ruined  Jerusalem.  Their 
first  care  is  to  provide  for  their  safety,  and  the  first  step 
is  to  know  the  exact  extent  of  their  defencelessness. 
So  we  have  the  account  of  Nehemiah's  midnight  ride 
amongst  the  ruins  of  the  broken  walls.  And  then  we 
read  of  the  co-operation  of  all  classes  in  the  work  of 
reconstruction.  '  Many  hands  made  light  work.'  Men 
and  women,  priests  and  nobles,  goldsmiths,  apothe- 
caries, merchants,  all  seized  trowel  or  spade,  and 
wheeled  and  piled.  One  man  puts  up  a  long  length 
of  wall,  another  can  only  manage  a  little  bit ;  another 
undertakes  the  locks,  bolts,  and  bars  for  the  gates. 
Roughly  and  hastily  the  work  is  done.  The  result, 
of  course,  is  very  unlike  the  stately  structures  of 
Solomon's  or  of  Herod's  time,  but  it  is  enough  for 
shelter.  We  can  imagine  the  sigh  of  relief  with  which 
the  workers  looked  upon  the  completed  circle  of  their 
rude  fortifications. 

The  principle  of  division  of  labour  in  our  text  is 
repeated  several  times  in  this  list  of  the  builders.  It 
was  a  natural  one ;  a  man  would  work  all  the  better 
when  he  saw  his  own  roof  mutely  appealing  to  be 
defended,  and  thought  of  the  dear  ones  that  were 
there.    But  I  take  these  words  mainly  as  suggesting 


V.28]     *OVER  AGAINST  HIS  HOUSE'      345 

some  thoughts  applicable  to  the  duties  of  Christian 
people  in  view  of  the  spiritual  wants  of  our  great 
cities. 

I.  I  need  not  do  more  than  say  a  word  or  two  about 
the  ruins  which  need  repair.  If  I  dwell  rather  upon 
the  dark  side  than  on  the  bright  side  of  city  life  I  shall 
not  be  understood,  as  forgetting  that  the  very  causes 
which  intensify  the  evil  of  a  great  city  quicken  the 
good — the  friction  of  multitudes  and  the  impetus 
thereby  given  to  all  kinds  of  mental  activity.  Here 
amongst  us  there  is  much  that  is  admirable  and  noble 
— much  public  spirit,  much  wise  and  benevolent  ex- 
penditure of  thought  and  toil  for  the  general  good, 
much  conjoint  action  by  men  of  different  parties, 
earnest  antagonism  and  earnest  co-operation,  and  a 
free,  bracing  intellectual  atmosphere,  which  stimulates 
activity.  All  that  is  true,  though,  on  the  other  hand, 
it  is  not  good  to  live  always  within  hearing  of  the 
clatter  of  machinery  and  the  strife  of  tongues ;  and  the 
wisdom  that  is  born  of  solitary  meditation  and  quiet 
thought  is  less  frequently  met  with  in  cities  than  is 
the  cleverness  that  is  born  of  intercourse  with  men, 
and  newspaper  reading. 

But  there  is  a  tragic  other  side  to  all  that,  which 
mostly  we  make  up  our  minds  to  say  little  about  and 
to  forget.  The  indifference  which  has  made  that 
ignorance  possible,  and  has  in  its  turn  been  fed  by 
the  ignorance,  is  in  some  respects  a  more  shocking 
phenomenon  than  the  vicious  life  which  it  has  allowed 
to  rot  and  to  reek  unheeded. 

Most  of  us  have  got  so  familiarised  with  the  evils 
that  stare  us  in  the  face  every  time  we  go  out  upon 
the  pavements,  that  we  have  come  to  think  of  them 


346         THE  BOOK  OF  NEHEMIAH     [ch.iii. 

as  being  inseparable  from  our  modern  life,  like  the 
noise  of  a  carriage  wheel  from  its  rotation.  And  is  it 
so  then  ?  Is  it  indeed  inevitable  that  within  a  stone's 
throw  of  our  churches  and  chapels  there  should  be 
thousands  of  men  and  w^omen  that  have  never  been 
inside  a  place  of  w^orship  since  they  were  christened; 
and  have  no  more  religion  than  a  horse?  Must  it  be 
that  the  shining  structure  of  our  modern  society,  like 
an  old  Mexican  temple,  must  be  built  upon  a  layer  of 
living  men,  flung  in  for  a  foundation?  Can  it  not  be 
helped  that  there  should  be  streets  in  our  cities  into 
which  it  is  unfit  for  a  decent  woman  to  go  by  day 
alone,  and  unsafe  for  a  brave  man  to  venture  after 
nightfall?  Must  men  and  "women  huddle  together  in 
dens  w^here  decency  is  as  impossible  as  it  is  for  swine 
in  a  sty  ?  Is  it  an  indispensable  part  of  our  material 
progress  and  wonderful  civilisation  that  vice  and  crime 
and  utter  irreligion  and  hopeless  squalor  should  go 
with  it  ?  Can  all  that  bilge  water  really  not  be  pumped 
out  of  the  ship?  If  it  be  so,  then  I  venture  to  say 
that,  to  a  very  large  extent,  progress  is  a  delusion, 
and  that  the  simple  life  of  agricultural  communi- 
ties is  better  than  this  unwholesome  aggregation  of 
men. 

The  beginning  of  Nehemiah's  work  of  repair  was 
that  sad  midnight  ride  round  the  ruined  walls.  So 
there  is  a  solemn  obligation  laid  on  Christian  people 
to  acquaint  themselves  with  the  awful  facts,  and  then 
to  meditate  on  them,  till  sacred,  Christ-like  compassion, 
pressing  against  the  flood-gates  of  the  heart,  flings 
them  open,  and  lets  out  a  stream  of  helpful  pity  and 
saving  deeds. 

II.  So  much  for  my  first  point.  My  second  is— the 
ruin  is  to  be  repaired  mainly  by  the  old  Gospel  of  Jesus 


V.28]   «ovp:r  against  his  house'    347 

Christ.  Far  be  it  from  me  to  pit  remedies  against  each 
other.  The  causes  are  complicated,  and  the  cure  must 
be  as  manifold  as  the  causes.  For  my  own  part  I 
believe  that,  in  regard  to  the  condition  of  the  lowest 
of  our  outcast  population,  drink  and  lust  have  done  it 
almost  all,  and  that  for  all  but  an  infinitesimal  portion 
of  it,  intemperance  is  directly  or  indirectly  the  cause. 
That  has  to  be  fought  by  the  distinct  preaching  of 
abstinence,  and  by  the  invoking  of  legislative  restric- 
tions upon  the  traffic.  Wretched  homes  have  to  be 
dealt  with  by  sanitary  reform,  which  may  require 
municipal  and  parliamentary  action.  Domestic  dis- 
comfort has  to  be  dealt  with  by  teaching  wives  the 
principles  of  domestic  economy.  The  gracious  influence 
of  art  and  music,  pictures  and  window-gardening,  and 
the  like,  will  lend  their  aid  to  soften  and  refine.  Coffee 
taverns,  baths  and  wash-houses,  workmen's  clubs,  and 
many  other  agencies  are  doing  real  and  good  work. 
I  for  one  say,  '  God  speed  to  them  all,*  and  willingly 
help  them  so  far  as  I  can. 

But,  as  a  Christian  man,  I  believe  that  I  know  a 
thing  that  if  lodged  in  a  man's  heart  will  do  pretty 
nearly  all  which  they  aspire  to  do  ;  and  whilst  I  rejoice 
in  the  multiplied  agencies  for  social  elevation,  I  believe 
that  I  shall  best  serve  my  generation,  and  I  believe  that 
ninety-nine  out  of  a  hundred  of  you  will  do  so  too,  by 
trying  to  get  men  to  love  and  fear  Jesus  Christ  the 
Saviour.  If  you  can  get  His  love  into  a  man's  heart, 
that  will  produce  new  tastes  and  new  inclinations, 
which  will  reform,  and  sweeten,  and  purify  faster  than 
anything  else  does. 

They  tell  us  that  Nonconformist  ministers  are  never 
seen  in  the  slums ;  well,  that  is  a  libel !  But  I  should 
like  to  ask  why  it  is  that  the  Roman  Catholic  priest 


348        THE  BOOK  OF  NEHEMIAH     [ch.iii. 

is  seen  there  more  than  the  Nonconformist  minister? 
Because  the  one  man's  congregation  is  there,  and  the 
other  man's  is  not — which,  being  translated  into  other 
words,  is  this:  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  mostly 
keeps  people  out  of  the  slums,  and  certainly  it  will 
take  a  man  out  of  them  if  once  it  gets  into  his 
heart,  more  certainly  and  quickly  than  anything  else 
will. 

So,  dear  friends !  if  we  have  in  our  hearts  and  in  our 
hands  this  great  message  of  God's  love,  we  have  in  our 
possession  the  germ  out  of  which  all  things  that  are 
lovely  and  of  good  report  will  grow.  It  will  purify, 
elevate,  and  sweeten  society,  because  it  will  make 
individuals  pure  and  strong,  and  homes  holy  and 
happy.  We  do  not  need  to  draw  comparisons  between 
this  and  other  means  of  reparation,  and  still  less  to 
feel  any  antagonism  to  them  or  the  benevolent  men 
who  work  them;  but  we  should  fix  it  in  our  minds 
that  the  principles  of  Christ's  Gospel  adhered  to  by 
individuals,  and  therefore  by  communities,  would  have 
rendered  such  a  condition  of  things  impossible,  and 
that  the  true  repair  of  the  ruin  wrought  by  evil  and 
ignorance,  in  the  single  soul,  in  the  family,  the  city, 
the  nation,  the  world,  is  to  be  found  in  building 
anew  on  the  One  Foundation  which  God  has  laid, 
even  Jesus  Christ,  the  Living  Stone,  whose  pure  life 
passes  into  all  that  are  grounded  and  founded  on 
Him. 

III.  Lastly,  this  remedy  is  to  be  applied  by  the  in- 
dividual action  of  Christian  men  and  women  on  the 
people  nearest  them. 

'The  priests  repaired  every  one  over  against  his 
house.'  We  are  always  tempted,  in  the  face  of  large 
disasters,  to  look  for  heroic  and  large  remedies,  and  to 


V.28]     *OVER  AGAINST  HIS  HOUSE'      349 

invoke  corporate  action  of  some  sort,  which  is  a  great 
deal  easier  for  most  of  us  than  the  personal  effort  that 
is  required.  When  a  great  scandal  and  danger  like 
this  of  the  condition  of  the  lower  layers  of  our  civic 
population  is  presented  before  men,  for  one  man  that 
says,  'What  can  /do?'  there  are  twenty  who  say, 
'  Somebody  should  do  something.  Government  should 
do  something.  The  Corporation  should  do  something. 
This,  that,  or  the  other  aggregate  of  men  should  do 
something.'  And  the  individual  calmly  and  comfort- 
ably slips  his  neck  out  of  the  collar  and  leaves  it  on 
the  shoulders  of  these  abstractions. 

As  I  have  said,  there  are  plenty  of  things  that  need 
to  be  done  by  these  somebodies.  But  what  they  do 
(they  will  be  a  long  time  in  doing  it),  when  they  do 
get  to  work  will  only  touch  the  fringe  of  the  question, 
and  the  substance  and  the  centre  of  it  you  can  set  to 
work  upon  this  very  day  if  you  like,  and  not  wait 
for  anybody  either  to  set  you  the  example  or  to  show 
you  the  way. 

If  you  want  to  do  people  good  you  can;  but  you 
must  pay  the  price  for  it.  That  price  is  personal 
sacrifice  and  effort.  The  example  of  Jesus  Christ  is 
the  all-instructive  one  in  the  case.  People  talk  about 
Him  being  their  Pattern,  but  they  often  forget  that 
whatever  more  there  was  in  Christ's  Cross  and  Passion 
there  was  this  in  it : — the  exemplification  for  all  time 
of  the  one  law  by  which  any  reformation  can  be 
wrought  on  men — that  a  sympathising  man  shall  give 
himself  to  do  it,  and  that  by  personal  influence  alone 
men  will  be  drawn  and  won  from  out  of  the  darkness 
and  filth.  A  loving  heart  and  a  sympathetic  word,  the 
exhibition  of  a  Christian  life  and  conduct,  the  fact  of 
going  down  into  the  midst  of  evil  and  trying  to  lift 


350        THE  BOOK  OF  NEHExMIAH     [ch.iii. 

men  out  of  it,  are  the  old-fashioned  and  only  magnets 
by  which  men  are  drawn  to  purer  and  higher  life. 
That  is  God's  way  of  saving  the  world — by  the  action 
of  single  souls  on  single  souls.  Masses  of  men  can 
neither  save  nor  be  saved.  Not  in  groups,  but  one 
by  one,  particle  by  particle,  soul  by  soul,  Christ  draws 
men  to  Himself,  and  He  does  His  work  in  the  world 
through  single  souls  on  fire  with  His  love,  and  tender 
with  pity  learned  of  Him. 

So,  dear  friends !  do  not  think  that  any  organisation, 
any  corporate  activity,  any  substitution  of  vicarious 
service,  will  solve  the  problem.  It  will  not.  There  is 
only  one  way  of  doing  it,  the  old  way  that  we  must 
tread  if  we  are  going  to  do  anything  for  God  and  our 
fellows :  '  The  priests  repaired  every  one  over  against 
his  house.' 

Let  me  briefly  point  out  some  very  plain  and  obvious 
things  which  bear  upon  this  matter  of  individual 
action.  Let  me  remind  you  that  if  you  are  a  Christian 
man  you  have  in  your  possession  the  thing  which  w^ill 
cure  the  world's  woe,  and  possession  involves  respon- 
sibility. What  would  you  think  of  a  man  that  had 
a  specific  for  some  pestilence  that  was  raging  in  a  city, 
and  was  contented  to  keep  it  for  his  own  use,  or  at 
most  for  his  family's  use,  when  his  brethren  were 
dying  by  the  thousand,  and  their  corpses  polluting  the 
air?  And  what  shall  we  say  of  men  and  women  who 
call  themselves  Christians,  who  have  some  faith  in 
that  great  Lord  and  His  mighty  sacrifice;  who  know 
that  the  men  they  meet  with  every  day  of  their  lives 
are  dying  for  want  of  it,  and  who  yet  themselves  do 
absolutely  nothing  to  spread  His  name,  and  to  heal 
men's  hurts?  What  shall  we  say?  God  forbid  that 
we    should    say  they    are    not    Christians!   but    God 


V.28]     'OVER  AGAINST  HIS  HOUSE'      351 

forbid  that  anybody  should  flatter  them  with  the 
notion  that  they  are  anything  but  most  inconsistent 
Christians ! 

Still  further,  need  I  remind  you  that  if  we  have 
found  anything  in  Jesus  Christ  which  has  been  peace 
and  rest  for  ourselves,  Christ  has  thereby  called  us  to 
this  work  ?  He  has  found  and  saved  us,  not  only  for 
our  own  personal  good.  That,  of  course,  is  the  prime 
purpose  of  our  salvation,  but  not  its  exclusive  purpose. 
He  has  saved  us,  too,  in  order  that  the  Word  may  be 
spread  through  us  to  those  beyond.  'The  Kingdom 
of  Heaven  is  like  leaven,  which  a  woman  took  and 
hid  in  three  measures  of  meal  until  the  whole  was 
leavened,'  and  every  little  bit  of  the  dough,  as  it 
received  into  itself  the  leaven,  and  was  transformed, 
became  a  medium  for  transmitting  the  transfor- 
mation to  the  next  particle  beyond  it  and  so  the 
whole  was  at  last  permeated  by  the  power.  We 
get  the  grace  for  ourselves  that  we  may  pass  it 
on;  and  as  the  Apostle  says:  *God  hath  shined  into 
our  hearts  that  we  might  give  the  light  of  the 
knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus 
Christ.' 

And  you  can  do  it,  you  Christian  men  and  women, 
every  one  of  you,  and  preach  Him  to  somebody.  The 
possession  of  His  love  gives  the  commission;  ay!  and 
it  gives  the  power.  There  is  nothing  so  mighty  as  the 
confession  of  personal  experience.  Do  not  you  think 
that  when  that  first  of  Christian  converts,  and  first  of 
Christian  preachers  went  to  his  brother,  all  full  of 
what  he  had  discovered,  his  simple  saying,  'We  have 
found  the  Messias,'  was  a  better  sermon  than  a  far 
more  elaborate  proclamation  would  have  been?  My 
brother !  if  you  have  found  Him,  you  can  say  so ;  and 


352        THE  BOOK  OF  NEHEMIAH     [ch.iit. 

if  you  can  say  so,  and  your  character  and  your  life 
confirm  the  words  of  your  lips,  you  will  have  done 
more  to  spread  His  name  than  much  eloquence  and 
many  an  orator.  All  can  preach  who  can  say,  'We 
have  found  the  Christ.' 

The  last  word  I  have  to  say  is  this :  there  is  no  other 
body  that  can  do  it  but  you.  They  say: — 'What  an 
awful  thing  it  is  that  there  are  no  churches  or  chapels 
in  these  outcast  districts ! '  If  there  were  they  would 
be  what  the  churches  and  chapels  are  now — half  empty. 
Bricks  and  mortar  built  up  into  ecclesiastical  forms 
are  not  the  way  to  evangelise  this  or  any  other  country. 
It  is  a  very  easy  thing  to  build  churches  and  chapels. 
It  is  not  such  an  easy  thing — I  believe  it  is  an  im- 
possible thing  (and  that  the  sooner  the  Christian 
church  gives  up  the  attempt  the  better) — to  get  the 
godless  classes  into  any  church  or  chapel.  Conducted 
on  the  principles  upon  which  churches  and  chapels 
must  needs  at  present  be  conducted,  they  are  for 
another  class  altogether ;  and  we  had  better  recognise 
it,  because  then  we  shall  feel  that  no  multiplication 
of  buildings  like  this  in  which  we  now  are,  for  in- 
stance, is  any  direct  contribution  to  the  evangelisa- 
tion of  the  waste  spots  of  the  country,  except  in  so 
far  as  from  a  centre  like  this  there  ought  to  go  out 
much  influence  which  will  originate  direct  missionary 
action  in  places  and  fashions  adapted  to  the  outlying 
community. 

Professional  work  is  not  what  we  want.  Any  man, 
be  he  minister,  clergyman,  Bible-reader,  city  missionary, 
who  goes  among  our  godless  population  with  the 
suspicion  of  pay  about  him  is  the  weaker  for  that. 
What  is  needed  besides  is  that  ladies  and  gentlemen 
that  are  a  little  higher  up  in  the  social  scale  than  these 


V.28]     *OVER  AGAINST  HIS  HOUSE'      353 

poor  creatures,  should  go  to  them  themselves;  and 
excavate  and  work.  Preach,  if  you  like,  in  the  technical 
sense;  have  meetings,  I  suppose,  necessarily;  but  the 
personal  contact  is  the  thing,  the  familiar  talk,  the 
simple  exhibition  of  a  loving  Christian  heart,  and  the 
unconventional  proclamation  in  free  conversation  of 
the  broad  message  of  the  love  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ. 
Why,  if  all  the  people  in  this  chapel  who  can  do  that 
would  do  it,  and  keep  on  doing  it,  who  can  tell  what 
an  influence  would  come  from  some  hundreds  of  new 
workers  for  Christ?  And  why  should  the  existence 
of  a  church  in  which  the  workers  are  as  numerous  as 
the  Christians  be  an  Utopian  dream  ?  It  is  simply  the 
dream  that  perhaps  a  church  might  be  conceived  to 
exist,  all  the  members  of  which  had  found  out  their 
plainest,  most  imperative  duty,  and  were  really  trying 
to  do  it. 

No  carelessness,  no  indolence,  no  plea  of  timidity  or 
business  shift  the  obligation  from  your  shoulders  if 
you  are  a  Christian.  It  is  your  business,  and  no  paid 
agents  can  represent  you.  You  cannot  buy  yourselves 
substitutes  in  Christ's  army,  as  they  used  to  do  in 
the  militia,  by  a  guinea  subscription.  We  are  thankful 
for  the  money,  because  there  are  kinds  of  work  to  be 
done  that  unpaid  effort  will  not  do.  But  men  ask  for 
your  money ;  Jesus  Christ  asks  for  yourself,  for  your 
work,  and  will  not  let  you  off  as  having  done  your  duty 
because  you  have  paid  your  subscription.  No  doubt 
there  are  some  of  you  who,  from  various  circumstances, 
cannot  yourselves  do  work  amongst  the  masses  of  the 
outcast  population.  Well,  but  you  have  got  people 
by  your  side  whom  you  can  help.  The  question  which 
I  wish  to  ask  of  my  Christian  brethren  and  sisters 
now  is  this:  Is  there  a  man,  woman,  or  child  living 

z 


354        THE  BOOK  OF  NEHEMIAH     [ch.iv. 

to  whom  you  ever  spoke  a  word  about  Jesus  Christ  ? 
Is  there  ?  If  not,  do  not  you  think  it  is  time  that  you 
began  ? 

There  are  people  in  your  houses,  people  that  sit  by 
you  in  your  counting-house,  on  your  college  benches, 
who  work  by  your  side  in  mill  or  factory  or  warehouse, 
who  cross  your  path  in  a  hundred  ways,  and  God  has 
given  them  to  you  that  you  may  bring  them  to  Him. 
Do  you  set  yourself,  dear  brother,  to  work  and  try 
to  bring  them.  Oh!  if  you  lived  nearer  Jesus  Christ 
you  would  catch  the  sacred  fire  from  Him;  and  like 
a  bit  of  cold  iron  lying  beside  a  magnet,  touching  Him, 
you  would  yourselves  become  magnetic  and  draw  men 
out  of  their  evil  and  up  to  God. 

Let  me  commend  to  you  the  old  pattern  :  '  The  priests 
repaired  every  one  over  against  his  house';  and  beseech 
you  to  take  the  trowel  and  spade,  or  anything  that 
comes  handiest,  and  build,  in  the  bit  nearest  you,  some 
living  stones  on  the  true  Foundation. 


DISCOURAGEMENTS  AND  COURAGE 

'Nevertheless  we  made  our  prayer  unto  our  God,  and  set  a  watch  against  them 
day  and  night,  because  of  them.  10.  And  Judah  said,  The  strength  of  the  bearers 
of  burdens  is  decayed,  and  there  is  much  rubbish  ;  so  that  we  are  not  able  to  build 
the  wall.  11.  And  our  adversaries  said,  They  shall  not  know,  neither  see,  till 
we  come  in  the  midst  among  them,  and  slay  them,  and  cause  the  work  to  cease. 
12.  And  it  came  to  pass,  that  when  the  Jews  which  dwelt  by  them  came,  they  said 
unto  us  ten  times.  From  all  places  whence  ye  shall  return  unto  us  they  will  be 
upon  you.  13.  Therefore  set  I  in  the  lower  places  behind  the  wall,  and  on  the 
higher  places,  I  even  sec  the  people  after  their  families  with  their  swords,  their 
spears,  and  their  bows.  14.  And  I  looked  and  rose  up,  and  said  unto  the  nobles, 
and  to  the  rulers,  and  to  the  rest  of  the  people,  Be  not  ye  afraid  of  them  :  remember 
the  Lord,  which  is  great  and  terrible,  and  fight  for  your  brethren,  your  sons,  and 
your  daughters,  your  wives,  and  your  houses.  15.  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  our 
enemies  heard  that  it  was  known  unto  us,  and  God  had  brought  their  counsel  to 
nought,  that  we  returned  all  of  us  to  the  wall,  every  one  unto  his  work.  16.  And 
it  came  to  pass  from  that  time  forth,  that  tl.e  half  of  my  servants  wrought  in  the 
work,  and  the  other  half  of  them  held  both  ihe  spears,  the  shields,  and  the  bows, 
and  the  habergeons  ;  and  the  rulers  were  behind  all  the  house  of  Judah.  17.  They 
which  builded  on  the  wall,  and  thoj-  that  bare  burdens,  willi  those  that  loded, 
every  one  with  one  of  bis  hands  wi'ought  iu  the  work,  and  with  the  other  hand 


vs.  9-21]  DISCOURAGEMENTS  355 

held  a  weapon.  18.  For  the  builders,  every  one  had  his  sword  girded  by  his  side, 
and  so  builded.  And  he  that  sounded  the  trumpet  was  by  me.  19.  And  I  said 
unto  the  nobles,  and  to  the  rulers,  and  to  the  rest  of  the  people.  The  work  is 
great  and  large,  and  we  are  separated  upon  the  wall,  one  far  from  another. 
20.  In  what  place  therefore  ye  hear  the  sound  of  the  trumpet,  resort  ye  thither 
unto  us :  our  God  shall  fight  for  us.  21.  So  we  laboured  in  the  work  :  and  half  of 
them  held  the  spears  from  the  rising  of  the  morning  till  the  stars  appeared.'— 
Neh.  iv.  9-21. 

Common  hatred  has  a  wonderful  power  of  uniting 
former  foes.  Samaritans,  wild  Arabs  of  the  desert, 
Ammonites,  and  inhabitants  of  Ashdod  in  the  Philis- 
tine plain  would  have  been  brought  together  for  no 
noble  work,  but  mischief  and  malice  fused  them  for  a 
time  into  one.  God's  work  is  attacked  from  all  sides. 
Herod  and  Pilate  can  shake  hands  over  their  joint 
antagonism. 

This  passage  paints  vividly  the  discouragements 
which  are  apt  to  dog  all  good  work,  and  the  courage 
which  refuses  to  be  discouraged,  and  conquers  by  bold 
persistence.  The  first  verse  (v.  9)  may  stand  as  a 
summary  of  the  whole,  though  it  refers  to  the  pre- 
ceding, not  to  the  following,  verses.  The  true  way  to 
meet  opposition  is  twofold — prayer  and  prudent  watch- 
fulness. '  Pray  to  God,  and  keep  your  powder  dry,'  is 
not  a  bad  compendium  of  the  duty  of  a  Christian 
soldier.  The  union  of  appeal  to  God  with  the  full  use 
of  common  sense,  watchfulness,  and  prudence,  would 
dissipate  many  hindrances  to  successful  service. 

I.  In  verses  10-12  Nehemiah  tells,  in  his  simple  way, 
of  the  difficulties  from  three  several  quarters  which 
threatened  to  stop  his  work.  He  had  trouble  from  the 
workmen,  from  the  enemies,  and  from  the  mass  of 
Jews  not  resident  in  Jerusalem.  The  enthusiasm  of 
the  builders  had  cooled,  and  the  magnitude  of  their 
task  began  to  frighten  them.  Verse  6  tells  us  that  the 
wall  was  completed  'unto  the  half  of  it';  that  is,  to 
one-half  the  height,  and  half-way  through  is  just  the 


356         THE  BOOK  OF  NEHEMIAH  ,[ch.iv. 

critical  time  in  all  protracted  work.  The  fervour  of 
beginning  has  passed;  the  animation  from  seeing  the  end 
at  hand  has  not  sprung  up.  There  is  a  dreary  stretch 
in  the  centre,  where  it  takes  much  faith  and  self-com- 
mand to  plod  on  unfainting.  Half-way  to  Australia 
from  England  is  the  region  of  sickening  calms.  It  is 
easier  to  Avork  in  the  fresh  morning  or  in  the  cool 
evening  than  at  midday.  So  in  every  great  movement 
there  are  short-winded  people  who  sit  down  and  pant 
very  soon,  and  their  prudence  croaks  out  undeniarble 
facts.  No  doubt  strength  does  become  exhausted ;  no 
doubt  there  is  '  much  rubbish  '  (literally  '  dust ').  What 
then  ?  The  conclusion  drawn  is  not  so  unquestionable 
as  the  premises.  'We  cannot  build  the  wall.'  W^hy 
not  ?  Have  you  not  built  half  of  it  ?  And  was  not  the 
first  half  more  embarrassed  by  rubbish  than  the  second 
will  be  ? 

It  is  a  great  piece  of  Christian  duty  to  recognise 
difficulties,  and  not  be  coTved  by  them.  The  true  infer- 
ence from  the  facts  would  have  been,  '  so  that  we  must 
put  all  our  strength  into  the  work,  and  trust  in  our 
God  to  help  us.'  W^e  may  not  be  responsible  for  dis- 
couragements suggesting  themselves,  but  we  are  re- 
sponsible for  letting  them  become  dissuasives.  Our 
one  question  should  be.  Has  God  appointed  the  work  ? 
If  so,  it  has  to  be  done,  however  little  our  strength,  and 
however  mountainous  the  accumulations  of  rubbish. 

The  second  part  in  the  trio  was  taken  by  the  enemies 
— Sanballat  and  Tobiah  and  the  rest.  They  laid  their 
plans  for  a  sudden  swoop  down  on  Jerusalem,  and 
calculated  that,  if  they  could  surprise  the  builders  at 
their  work,  they  would  have  no  weapons  to  show  fight 
with,  and  so  would  be  easily  despatched.  Killing  the 
builders  was  but  a  means ;  the  desired  end  is  siguifi- 


vs>9-2i]  DISCOURAGEMENTS  357 

cantly  put  last  (v.  11),  as  being  the  stopping  of  the 
abhorred  work.  But  killing  the  workmen  does  not 
cause  the  work  to  cease  when  it  is  God's  work,  as  the 
history  of  the  Church  in  all  ages  shows.  Conspirators 
should  hold  their  tongues.  It  was  not  a  hopeful  way 
of  beginning  an  attack,  of  which  the  essence  was 
secrecy  and  suddenness,  to  talk  about  it.  'A  bird  of 
the  air  carries  the  matter.' 

The  third  voice  is  that  of  the  Jews  in  other  parts  of 
the  land,  and  especially  those  living  on  the  borders  of 
Samaria,  next  door  to  Sanballat.  Verse  12  is  probably 
best  taken  as  in  the  Revised  Version,  which  makes  '  Ye 
must  return  to  us '  the  imperative  and  often-repeated 
summons  from  these  to  the  contingents  from  their 
respective  places  of  abode,  who  had  gone  up  to  Jerusa- 
lem to  help  in  building.  Alarms  of  invasion  made  the 
scattered  villagers  wish  to  have  all  their  men  capable 
of  bearing  arms  back  again  to  defend  their  own  homes. 
It  was  a  most  natural  demand,  but  in  this  case,  as  so 
often,  audacity  is  truest  prudence;  and  in  all  high 
causes  theyre  come  times  when  men  have  to  trust  their 
homes  and  dear  ones  to  God's  protection.  The  necessity 
is  heartrending,  and  we  may  well  pray  that  we  may 
not  be  exposed  to  it ;  but  if  it  clearly  arises,  a  devout 
man  can  have  no  doubt  of  his  duty.  How  many 
American  citizens  had  to  face  it  in  the  great  Civil 
War !  And  hovr  character  is  ennobled  by  even  so 
severe  a  sacrifice  I 

II.  The  calm  heroism  of  Nehemiah  and  his  wise  action 
in  the  emergency  are  told  in  verses  13-15.  He  made  a 
demonstration  in  force,  which  at  once  showed  that  the 
scheme  of  a  surprise  was  blown  to  pieces.  It  is  difficult 
to  make  out  the  exact  localities  in  which  he  planted  his 
men.     'The  lower  places  behind  the  wall'  probably 


358        THE  BOOK  OF  NEHEMIAH     [ch.  iv. 

means  the  points  at  which  the  new  fortifications  were 
lowest,  which  would  be  the  most  exposed  to  assault; 
and  the  '  higher  places '  (Auth.  Ver.),  or  '  open  places ' 
(Rev.  Ver.),  describes  the  same  places  from  another 
point  of  view.  They  afforded  room  for  posting  troops 
because  they  were  without  buildings.  At  any  rate,  the 
walls  were  manned,  and  the  enemy  would  have  to  deal, 
not  with  unarmed  labourers,  but  with  prepared  soldiers. 
The  work  was  stopped,  and  trowel  and  spade  exchanged 
for  sword  and  spear.  '  And  I  looked,'  says  Nehemiah. 
His  careful  eye  travelled  over  the  lines,  and,  seeing  all 
in  order,  he  cheered  the  little  army  with  ringing  words. 
He  had  prayed  (Neh.  i.  5)  to  'the  great  and  terrible 
God,'  and  now  he  bids  his  men  remember  Him,  and 
thence  draw  strength  and  courage.  The  only  real 
antagonist  of  fear  is  faith.  If  we  can  grasp  God,  we 
shall  not  dread  Sanballat  and  his  crew.  Unless  we  do, 
the  world  is  full  of  dangers  which  it  is  not  folly  to 
fear. 

Note,  too,  that  the  people  are  animated  for  the  figbt 
by  reminding  them  of  the  dear  ones  whose  lives  and 
honour  hung  on  the  issue.  Nothing  is  said  about 
fighting  for  God  and  His  Temple  and  city,  but  the 
motives  adduced  are  not  less  sacred.  Family  love  is 
God's  best  of  earthly  gifts,  and,  though  it  is  sometimes 
duty  to  'forget  thine  own  people,  and  thy  father's 
house,'  as  we  have  just  seen,  nothing  short  of  these 
highest  obligations  can  supersede  the  sweet  one  of 
straining  every  nerve  for  the  well-being  of  dear  ones 
in  the  hallowed  circle  of  home. 

So  the  plan  of  a  sudden  rush  came  to  nothing.     It 
does  not  appear  that  the  enemy  was  in  sight ;  but  the 
news  of  the  demonstration  soon  reached  them,  and- 
was  effectual.     Prompt  preparation  against  possible 


vs.  9-21]  DISCOURAGEMENTS  359 

dangers  is  often  the  means  of  turning  them  aside. 
Watchfulness  is  indispensable  to  vigour  of  Christian 
character  and  efficiency  of  work.  Suspicion  is  hateful 
and  weakening ;  but  a  man  who  tries  to  serve  God  in 
such  a  world  as  this  had  need  to  be  like  the  living 
creatures  in  the  Revelation,  having  '  eyes  all  over.* 
'Blessed  is  the  man  that  [in  that  sense]  feareth 
always.' 

The  upshot  of  the  alarm  is  very  beautifully  told: 
'We  returned  all  of  us  to  the  wall,  every  one  unto  his' 
work.'  No  time  was  wasted  in  jubilation.  The  work 
was  the  main  thing,  and  the  moment  the  interruption 
was  ended,  back  to  it  they  all  went.  It  is  a  fine  illus- 
tration of  persistent  discharge  of  duty,  and  of  that 
most  valuable  quality,  the  ability  and  inclination  to 
keep  up  the  main  purpose  of  a  life  continuous  through 
interruptions,  like  a  stream  of  sweet  water  running 
through  a  bog. 

III.  The  remainder  of  the  passage  tells  us  of  the  stand- 
ing arrangements  made  in  consequence  of  the  alarm 
(vs.  16-21).  First  we  hear  what  Nehemiah  did  with  his 
own  special  '  servants,'  whether  these  were  slaves  who 
had  accompanied  him  from  Shushan  (as  Stanley  sup- 
poses), or  his  body-guard  as  a  Persian  official.  He 
divided  them  into  two  parts — one  to  work,  one  to 
watch.  But  he  did  not  carry  out  this  plan  with  the 
mass  of  the  people,  probably  because  it  would  have  too 
largely  diminished  the  number  of  builders.  So  he 
armed  them  all.  The  labourers  who  carried  stones, 
mortar,  and  the  like,  could  do  their  work  after  a  fashion 
with  one  hand,  and  so  they  had  a  weapon  in  the  other. 
If  they  worked  in  pairs,  that  would  be  all  the  easier. 
The  actual  builders  needed  both  hands,  and  so  they 
had  swords  stuck  in  their  girdles. 


360        THE  BOOK  OF  NEHEMIAH     [ch.iv. 

No  doubt  such  arrangements  hindered  progress,  but 
they  were  necessary.  The  lesson  often  drawn  from 
them  is  no  doubt  true,  that  God's  workers  must  be 
prepared  for  warfare  as  well  as  building.  There  have 
been  epochs  in  which  that  necessity  was  realised  in  a 
very  sad  manner ;  and  the  Church  on  earth  will  always 
have  to  be  the  Church  militant.  But  it  is  well  to  re- 
member that  building  is  the  end,  and  fighting  is  but 
the  means.  The  trowel,  not  the  sword,  is  the  natural 
instrument.  Controversy  is  second  best — a  necessity, 
no  doubt,  but  an  unwelcome  one,  and  only  permissible 
as  a  subsidiary  help  to  doing  the  true  work,  rearing  the 
walls  of  the  city  of  God. 

•He  that  soundeth  the  trumpet  was  by  me.'  The 
gallant  leader  was  everywhere,  animating  by  his  pre- 
sence. He  meant  to  be  in  the  thick  of  the  fight,  if  it 
should  come.  And  so  he  kept  the  trumpeter  by  his 
side,  and  gave  orders  that  when  he  sounded  all  should 
hurry  to  the  place ;  for  there  the  enemy  would  be,  and 
Nehemiah  would  be  where  they  were.  'The  work  is 
great  and  large,  and  we  are  separated  . .  .  one  far  from 
another.'  How  naturally  the  words  lend  themselves 
to  the  old  lesson  so  often  drawn  from  them!  God's 
servants  are  widely  parted,  by  distance,  by  time,  and, 
alas !  by  less  justifiable  causes.  Unless  they  draw 
together  they  will  be  overwhelmed,  taken  in  detail, 
and  crushed.  They  must  rally  to  help  each  other 
against  the  common  foe. 

Thank  God !  the  longing  for  manifest  Christian  unity 
is  deeper  to-day  than  ever  it  was.  But  much  remains 
to  be  done  before  it  is  adequately  fulfilled  in  the  recog- 
nition of  the  common  bond  of  brotherhood,  which 
binds  us  all  in  one  family,  if  we  have  one  Father- 
English  and  American  Christians  are  bound  to  seek 


V6.9-21]  AN  ANCIENT  NONCONFORMIST  361 

the  tightening  of  the  bonds  between  them  and  to  set 
themselves  against  politicians  who  may  seek  to  keep 
apart  those  who  both  in  the  flesh  and  in  the  spirit  are 
brothers.  All  Christians  have  one  great  Captain ;  and 
He  will  be  in  the  forefront  of  every  battle.  His 
clear  trumpet-call  should  gather  all  His  servants  to 
His  side. 

The  closing  verse  tells  again  how  Nehemiah's  im- 
mediate dependants  divided  work  and  watching,  and 
adds  to  the  picture  the  continuousness  of  their  toil 
from  the  first  grey  of  morning  till  darkness  showed  the 
stars  and  ended  another  day  of  toil.  Happy  they  who 
thus  'from  morn  till  noon,  from  noon  till  dewy  eve,' 
labour  in  the  work  of  the  Lord !  For  them,  every  new 
morning  will  dawn  with  new  strength,  and  every 
evening  be  calm  with  the  consciousness  of  '  something 
attempted,  something  done.' 


AN  ANCIENT  NONCONFORMIST 

*.  .  .  So  did  not  I,  because  of  the  fear  of  God.'— Neh.  v.  16. 

I  DO  not  suppose  that  the  ordinary  Bible-reader  knows 
very  much  about  Nehemiah.  He  is  one  of  the  neglected 
great  men  of  Scripture.  He  was  no  prophet,  he  had 
no  glowing  words,  he  had  no  lofty  visions,  he  had  no 
special  commission,  he  did  not  live  in  the  heroic  age. 
There  was  a  certain  harshness  and  dryness  ;  a  tendency 
towards  what,  when  it  was  more  fully  developed,  be- 
came Pharisaism,  in  the  man,  which  somewhat  covers 
the  essential  nobleness  of  his  character.  But  he  was 
brave,  cautious,  circumspect,  disinterested  j  and  he  had 
Jerusalem  in  his  heart. 


362         TH^:  BOOK  OF  NEHEMIAH     [ch.v. 

The  word'  have  read  are  a  little  fragment  of 

his  autobiography  which  deal  Avith  a  prosaic  enough 
matter,  but  -cnxry  in  them  large  principles.  When  he 
was  appo  \  n  W^v  governor  of  the  little  colony  of  returned 
exiles  h\  i'.do/dne,  he  found  that  his  predecessors,  like 
Turkish  pashas  and  Chinese  mandarins  to-day,  had  been 
in  the  habit  of  '  squeezing '  the  people  of  their  Govern- 
ment, and  that  they  had  requisitioned  sufficient  supplies 
of  provisions  to  keep  the  governor's  table  well  spread. 
It  nas  the  custom.  Nobody  would  have  wondered  if 
?« oi  cmiah  had  conformed  to  it ;  but  he  felt  that  he 
rnvst  have  his  hands  clean.  Why  did  he  not  do  what 
'i':  irybody  else  had  done  in  like  circumstances ?  His 
aiL-iiwer  is  beautifully  simple :  '  Because  of  the  fear  of 
God.'  His  religion  went  down  into  the  little  duties  of 
common  life,  and  imposed  upon  him  a  standard  far 
above  the  maxims  that  were  prevalent  round  about 
him.  And  so,  if  you  will  take  these  words,  and  disengage 
them  from  the  small  matter  concerning  which  they 
were  originally  spoken,  I  think  you  will  find  in  them 
thoughts  as  to  the  attitude  which-  we  should  take  to 
prevalent  practices,  the  motive  which  should  impel  us 
to  a  sturdy  non-compliance,  and  the  power  which  will 
enable  us  to  walk  on  a  solitary  road.  '  So  did  not  I, 
because  of  the  fear  of  God.'  Now,  then,  these  are  my 
three  points : — 

I.  The  attitude  to  prevalent  practices. 

Nehemiah  would  not  conform.  And  unless  you  can 
say  'No!'  and  do  it  very  often,  your  life  will  be 
shattered  from  the  beginning.  That  non-compliance 
with  customary  maxims  and  practices  is  the  beginning, 
or,  at  least,  one  of  the  foundation-stones,  of  all  noble- 
ness and  strength,  of  all  blessedness  and  power.  Of 
course  it  is  utterly  impossible  for  a  man  to  denude 


V.15]  AN  ANCIENT  NONCONFORMIST    363 

himself  of  the  influences  that  are  brought  to  bear 
upon  him  by  the  circumstances  in  which  he  lives,  and 
the  trend  of  opinion,  and  the  maxims  and  practices 
of  the  world,  in  the  corner,  and  at  the  time,  in  which 
his  lot  is  cast.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  be  sure  of  this, 
that  unless  you  are  in  a  very  deep  and  not  at  all  a 
technical  sense  of  the  word,  '  Nonconformists,'  you  will 
come  to  no  good.  None  !  It  is  so  easy  to  do  as  others 
do,  partly  because  of  laziness,  partly  because  of 
cowardice,  partly  because  of  the  instinctive  imitation 
which  is  in  us  all.  Men  are  gregarious.  One  great 
teacher  has  drawn  an  illustration  from  a  flock  of  sheep, 
and  says  that  if  we  hold  up  a  stick,  and  the  first  of  the 
flock  jumps  over  it,  and  then  if  we  take  away  the  stick, 
all  the  rest  of  the  flock  will  jump  when  they  come  to 
the  point  where  the  first  did  so.  A  great  many  of  us 
adopt  our  creeds  and  opinions,  and  shape  our  lives  for 
no  better  reason  than  because  people  round  us  are 
thinking  in  a  certain  direction,  and  living  in  a  certain 
way.  It  saves  a  great  deal  of  trouble,  and  it  gratifies 
a  certain  strange  instinct  that  is  in  us  all,  and  it  avoids 
dangers  and  conflicts  that  we  should,  when  we  are  at 
Rome,  do  as  the  Romans  do.  '  So  did  not  I,  because  of 
the  fear  of  God.' 

Now,  brethren !  I  ask  you  to  take  this  plain  principle 
of  the  necessity  of  non-compliance  (which  I  suppose  I 
do  not  need  to  do  much  to  establish,  because,  theoreti- 
cally, we  most  of  us  admit  it),  and  apply  it  all  round 
the  circumference  of  your  lives.  Apply  it  to  your 
opinions.  There  is  no  tyranny  like  the  tyranny  of  a 
majority  in  a  democratic  country  like  ours.  It  is  quite 
as  harsh  as  the  tyranny  of  the  old-fashioned  despots. 
Unless  you  resolve  steadfastly  to  see  with  your  own 
eyes,  to  use  your  own  brains,  to  stand  on  your  own 


364         THE  BOOK  OF  NEHEMIAH     [ch.v. 

feet,  to  be  a  voice  and  not  an  echo,  you  will  be 
helplessly  enslaved  by  the  fashion  of  the  hour,  and  the 
opinions  that  prevail. 

'  What  everybody  says ' — perhaps—*  is  true.'  What 
most  people  say,  at  any  given  time,  is  very  likely  to 
be  false.  Truth  has  always  lived  with  minorities,  so 
do  not  let  the  current  of  widespread  opinion  sweep 
you  away,  but  try  to  have  a  mind  of  your  own,  and 
not  to  be  brow-beaten  or  overborne  because  the 
majority  of  the  people  round  about  you  are  giving 
utterance,  and  it  may  be  unmeasured  utterance,  to  any 
opinions. 

Now,  there  is  one  direction  in  which  I  wish  to  urge 
that  especially — and  now  I  speak  mainly  to  the  young 
men  in  my  congregation — and  that  is,  in  regard  to  the 
attitude  that  so  many  amongst  us  are  taking  to 
Christian  truth.  If  you  have  honestly  thought  out 
the  subject  to  the  best  of  your  ability,  and  have  come 
to  conclusions  diverse  from  those  which  men  like  me 
hold  dearer  than  their  lives,  that  is  another  matter. 
But  I  know  that  very  widely  there  is  spread  to-day  the 
fashion  of  unbelief.  So  many  influential  men,  leaders 
of  opinion,  teachers  and  preachers,  are  giving  up  the 
old-fashioned  Evangelical  faith,  that  it  takes  a  strong 
man  to  say  that  he  sticks  by  it.  It  is  a  poor  reason  to 
give  for  your  attitude,  that  unbelief  is  in  the  air,  and 
nobody  believes  those  old  doctrines  now.  That  may 
be.  There  are  currents  of  opinion  that  are  transitory, 
and  that  is  one  of  them,  depend  upon  it.  But  at 
all  events  do  not  be  fooled  out  of  your  faith,  as  some 
of  you  are  tending  to  be,  for  no  better  reason  than 
because  other  people  have  given  it  up.  An  iceberg 
lowers  the  temperature  all  round  it,  and  the  iceberg 
of  unbelief  is  amongst  us  to-day,  and  it  has  chilled 


V.  15]  AN  ANCIENT  NONCONFORMIST     365 

a  great  many  people  who  could  not  tell  why  they  have 
lost  the  fervour  of  their  faith. 

On  the  other  hand,  let  me  remind  you  that  a  mere 
traditional  religion,  which  is  only  orthodox  because 
other  people  are  so,  and  has  not  verified  its  beliefs  by 
personal  experience,  is  quite  as  deleterious  as  an 
imitative  unbelief.  Doubtless,  I  speak  to  some  who 
plume  themselves  on  'never  having  been  affected  by 
these  currents  of  popular  opinion,'  but  whose  un- 
blemished and  unquestioned  orthodoxy  has  no  more 
vitality  in  it  than  the  other  people's  heterodoxy.  The 
one  man  has  said,  '  What  is  everywhere  always,  and 
by  all  believed,  I  believe ' ;  and  the  other  man  has  said, 
♦What  the  select  spirits  of  this  day  disbelieve,  I 
disbelieve,'  and  the  belief  of  one  and  the  unbelief  of 
the  other  are  equally  worthless,  and  really  identical. 

But  it  is  not  only,  nor  mainly,  in  reference  to  opinion 
that  I  would  urge  upon  you  this  nonconformity  with 
prevalent  practices  as  the  measure  of  most  that  is 
noble  in  us.  I  dare  not  talk  to  you  as  if  I  knew  much 
about  the  details  of  Manchester  commercial  life,  but  I 
can  say  this  much,  that  it  is  no  excuse  for  shady 
practices  in  your  trade  to  say,  *  It  is  the  custom  of  the 
trade,  and  everybody  does  it.'  Nehemiah  might  have 
said :  '  There  never  was  a  governor  yet  but  took  his 
forty  shekels  a  day's  worth' — about  £1,800  of  our 
money — '  of  provisions  from  these  poor  people,  and 
I  am  not  going  to  give  it  up  because  of  a  scruple.  It 
is  the  custom,  and  because  it  is  the  custom  I  can  do  it.' 
I  am  not  going  into  details.  It  is  commonly  understood 
that  preachers  know  nothing  about  business;  that 
may  be  true,  or  it  may  not.  But  this,  I  am  sure,  is  a 
word  in  season  for  some  of  my  friends  this  evening 
— do  not  hide  behind  the  trade.    Come  out  into  the 


366         THE  BOOK  OF  NEHEMIAH     [ch.v. 

open,  and  deal  with  the  questions  of  morality  involved 
in  your  commercial  life,  as  you  will  have  to  deal  with 
them  hereafter,  by  yourself.  Never  mind  about  other 
people.  '  Oh,'  but  you  say,  '  that  involves  loss.'  Very 
likely!  Nehemiah  was  a  poorer  man  because  he  fed 
all  these  one  hundred  and  fifty  Jews  at  his  table,  but 
he  did  not  mind  that.  It  may  involve  loss,  but  you  will 
keep  God,  and  that  is  gain. 

Turn  this  searchlight  in  another  direction.  I  see  a 
number  of  young  people  in  my  congregation  at  this 
moment,  young  men  who  are  perhaps  just  beginning 
their  career  in  this  city,  and  who  possibly  have 
been  startled  when  they  heard  the  kind  of  talk  that 
was  going  on  at  the  next  desk,  or  from  the  man 
that  sits  beside  them  on  the  benches  at  College.  Do 
not  be  tempted  to  follow  that  multitude  to  do  evil. 
Unless  you  are  prepared  to  say  *  No ! '  to  a  great  deal 
that  will  be  pushed  into  your  face  in  this  great  city, 
as  sure  as  you  are  living  you  will  make  shipwreck  of 
your  lives.  Do  you  think  that  in  the  forty  years  and 
more  that  I  have  stood  here  I  have  not  seen  successive 
generations  of  young  men  come  into  Manchester?  I 
could  people  many  of  these  pews  with  the  faces  of  such, 
who  came  here  buoyant,  full  of  hope,  full  of  high 
resolves,  and  w^ith  a  mother's  benediction  hanging  over 
their  heads,  and  who  got  into  a  bad  set,  and  had  not 
the  strength  to  say  *  No,'  and  they  went  down  and 
down  and  down,  and  then  presently  somebody  asked, 
*  Where  is  so-and-so  ? '  '  Oh !  his  health  broke  down, 
and  he  has  gone  home  to  die.'  '  His  bones  are  full  of 
the  iniquity  of  his  youth ' — and  he  made  shipwreck  of 
prospects  and  of  life,  because  he  did  not  pull  himself 
together  when  the  temptation  came,  and  say,  '  So  did 
not  I,  because  of  the  fear  of  God.' 


v.ioj  AN  ANCIENT  NONCONFORMIST    367 

II.  Now  let  me  ask  you  to  turn  with  me  to  the 
second  thought  that  my  text  suggests  to  me ;  that  is, 

The  motive  that  impels  to  this  sturdy  non- 
compliance. 

Nehemiah  puts  it  in  Old  Testament  phraseology, 
•the  fear  of  God';  the  New  Testament  equivalent  is 
'  the  love  of  Christ.'  And  if  you  want  to  take  the 
power  and  the  life  out  of  both  phrases,  in  order  to 
find  a  modern  conventional  equivalent,  you  will  say 
'religion.'  I  prefer  the  old-fashioned  language.  'The 
love  of  Christ '  impels  to  this  non-compliance.  Now, 
my  point  is  this,  that  Jesus  Christ  requires  from  each 
of  us  that  we  shall  abstain,  restrict  ourselves,  refuse  to 
do  a  great  many  things  that  are  being  done  round  us. 

I  need  not  remind  you  of  how  continually  He  spoke 
about  taking  up  the  cross.  I  need  not  do  more  than  just 
remind  you  of  His  parable  of  the  two  ways,  but  ask 
you,  whilst  you  think  of  it,  to  note  that  all  the 
characteristics  of  each  of  the  ways  which  He  sets 
forth  are  given  by  Him  as  reasons  for  refusing  the 
one  and  walking  in  the  other.  For  example,  'Enter 
ye  in  at  the  strait  gate,  for  strait  is  the  gate ' — that  is  a 
reason  for  going  in  ;  •  and  narrow  is  the  way ' — that  is  a 
reason  for  going  in  ;  '  and  few  there  be  that  find  it ' — 
that  is  a  reason  for  going  in.  'Wide  is  the  gate' — that 
is  a  reason  for  stopping  out ;  '  and  broad  is  the  way ' — 
that  is  a  reason  for  stopping  out ;  '  and  many  there  be 
that  go  in  thereat' — that  is  a  reason  for  stopping  out. 
Is  not  that  what  I  said,  that  the  minority  is  generally 
right  and  the  majority  wrong?  Just  because  there 
are  so  many  people  on  the  path,  suspect  it,  and  expect 
that  the  path  with  fewer  travellers  is  probably  the 
better  and  the  higher. 

But  to  pass  from  that,  what  did  Jesus  Christ  mean 


368         THE  BOOK  OF  NEHEMIAH      [ch.v. 

by  His  continual  contrast  between  His  disciples  and 
the  world  ?  What  did  He  mean  by  '  the  world '  ?  This 
fair  universe,  with  all  its  possibilities  of  help  and 
blessing,  and  all  its  educational  influences?  By  no 
means.  He  meant  by  'the  world'  the  aggregate  of 
things  and  men  considered  as  separate  from  God.  And 
when  He  applied  the  term  to  men  only,  He  meant  by  it 
very  much  what  we  mean  w^hen  w^e  talk  about  society. 
Society  is  not  organised  on  Christian  principles ;  we 
all  know  that,  and  until  it  is,  if  a  man  is  going  to  be 
a  Christian  he  must  not  conform  to  the  world.  '  Know 
ye  not  that  whosoever  is  a  friend  of  the  world  is  an 
enemy  of  God.* 

I  would  press  upon  you,  dear  friends !  that  our  Chris- 
tianity is  nothing  unless  it  leads  us  to  a  standard,  and 
a  course  of  conduct  in  conformity  with  that  standard, 
which  will  be  in  diametrical  opposition  to  a  great  deal 
of  what  is  patted  on  the  back,  and  petted  and  praised 
by  society.  Now,  there  is  an  easy-going  kind  of 
Christianity  which  does  not  recognise  that,  and  which 
is  in  great  favour  with  many  people  to-day,  and  is 
called  '  liberality '  and  '  breadth,'  and  '  conciliating  and 
commending  Christianity  to  outsiders,'  and  I  know  not 
what  besides.  Well,  Christ's  words  seem  to  me  to 
come  down  like  a  hammer  upon  that  sort  of  thing. 
Depend  upon  it,  'the  world' — I  mean  by  that  the 
aggregate  of  godless  men  organised  as  they  are  in 
society — does  not  think  much  of  these  trimmers.  It 
may  dislike  an  out-and-out  Christian,  but  it  knows 
him  when  it  sees  him,  and  it  has  a  kind  of  hostile 
respect  for  him  which  the  other  people  will  never  get. 
You  remember  the  story  of  the  man  that  was  seeking 
for  a  coachman,  and  whose  question  to  each  applicant 
was,  *  How  near  can  you  drive  to  the  edge  of  a  precipice?' 


V.  15]  AN  ANCIENT  NONCONFORMIST    369 

He  took  the  man  who  said  :  '  I  would  keep  away  from 
it  as  far  as  I  could.'  And  the  so-called  Christian  people 
that  seem  to  be  bent  on  showing  how  much  their  lives 
can  be  made  to  assimilate  to  the  lives  of  men  that 
have  no  sympathy  with  their  creeds,  are  like  the  rash 
Jehus  that  tried  to  go  as  near  the  edge  as  they  could. 
But  the  consistent  Christian  w^ill  keep  as  far  away 
from  it  as  he  can.  There  are  some  of  us  who  seem  as 
if  we  were  most  anxious  to  show  that  we,  whose  creed 
is  absolutely  inconsistent  with  the  world's  practices,  can 
live  lives  which  are  all  but  identical  with  these  practices. 
Jesus  Christ  says,  through  the  lips  of  His  Apostle,  what 
He  often  said  in  other  language  by  His  own  lips  when 
He  was  here  on  earth :  *  Be  ye  not  conformed  to  the 
world.' 

Surely  such  a  command  as  that,  just  because  it 
involves  difficulty,  self-restraint,  self-denial,  and  some- 
times self-crucifixion,  ought  to  appeal,  and  does  appeal, 
to  all  that  is  noble  in  humanity,  in  a  fashion  that  that 
smooth,  easy-going  gospel  of  living  on  the  level  of  the 
people  round  us  never  can  do.  For  remember  that 
Christ's  commandment  not  to  be  conformed  to  the 
world  is  the  consequence  of  His  commandment  to  be 
conformed  to  Himself.  'Thus  did  not  I '  comes  second; 
'  This  one  thing  I  do '  comes  first.  You  will  misunder- 
stand the  whole  genius  of  the  Gospel  if  you  suppose  that, 
as  a  law  of  life,  it  is  perpetually  pulling  men  short  up, 
and  saying :  Don't,  don't,  don't !  There  is  a  Christianity 
of  that  sort  which  is  mainly  prohibition  and  restric- 
tion, but  it  is  not  Christ's  Christianity.  He  begins  by 
enjoining :  '  This  do  in  remembrance  of  Me,'  and  the 
man  that  has  accepted  that  commandment  must 
necessarily  say,  as  he  looks  out  on  the  world,  and  its 
practices :  '  So  did  not  I,  because  of  the  fear  of  God.' 

2a 


370         THE  BOOK  OF  NEHEMIAH     [ch.v. 

III.  And  nqw  one  last  word — my  text  not  only 
suggests  the  motive  which  impels  to  this  non-com- 
pliance, but  also  the  power  which  enables  us  to 
exercise  it. 

*  The  fear  of  Grod,'  or,  taking  the  New  Testament 
equivalent,  'the  love  of  Christ,'  makes  it  possible  for 
a  man,  with  all  his  weakness  and  dependence  on 
surroundings,  with  all  his  instinctive  desire  to  be  like 
the  folk  that  are  near  him,  to  take  that  brave  attitude, 
and  to  refuse  to  be  one  of  the  crowd  that  runs  after 
evil  and  lies.  I  have  no  time  to  dwell  upon  this 
aspect  of  my  subject,  as  I  should  be  glad  to  have 
done.  Let  me  sum  up  in  a  sentence  or  two  what 
I  would  have  said.  Christ  will  enable  you  to  take 
this  necessary  attitude  because,  in  Himself  He  gives 
you  the  Example  which  it  is  always  safe  to  follow. 
The  instinct  of  imitation  is  planted  in  us  for  a  good 
end,  and  because  it  is  in  us,  examples  of  nobility  appeal 
to  us.  And  because  it  is  in  us  Jesus  Christ  has  lived 
the  life  that  it  is  possible  for,  and  therefore  incumbent 
on,  us  to  live.  It  is  safe  to  imitate  Him,  and  it  is 
easy  not  to  do  as  men  do,  if  once  our  main  idea  is  to 
do  as  Christ  did. 

He  makes  it  possible  for  us,  because  He  gives  the 
strongest  possible  motive  for  the  life  that  He  prescribes. 
As  the  Apostle  puts  it,  '  Ye  are  bought  with  a  price, 
be  not  the  servants  of  men.'  There  is  nothing  that 
will  so  deliver  us  from  the  tyranny  of  majorities,  and 
of  what  we  call  general  opinion  and  ordinary  custom, 
as  to  feel  that  we  belong  to  Him  because  He  died  for 
us.  Men  become  very  insignificant  when  Christ  speaks, 
and  the  charter  of  our  freedom  from  them  lies  in  our 
redemption  by  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Jesus  Christ  being  our  Redeemer  is  our  Judge,  and 


V.15]  READING  THE  LAW  371 

moment  by  mioment  He  is  estimating  our  conduct,  and 
judging  our  actions  as  they  are  done.  '  With  me  it  is 
a  very  small  matter  to  be  judged  of  you  or  of  man's 
judgment.  He  that  judgeth  me  is  the  Lord.'  Never 
mind  what  the  people  round  you  say  ;  you  do  not  take 
your  orders  from  them,  and  you  do  not  answer  to 
them.  Like  some  official  abroad,  appointed  by  the 
Crown,  you  do  not  report  to  the  local  authorities ; 
you  report  to  headquarters,  and  what  He  thinks  about 
you  is  the  only  important  thing.  So  '  the  fear  of  man 
which  bringeth  a  snare '  dwindles  down  into  very 
minute  dimensions  when  we  think  of  the  Pattern,  the 
Redeemer  and  the  Judge  to  whom  we  give  account. 

And  so,  dear  friends !  if  we  will  only  open  our  hearts, 
by  quiet  humble  faith,  for  the  coming  of  Jesus  Christ 
into  our  lives,  then  we  shall  be  able  to  resist,  to  refuse 
compliance,  to  stand  firm,  though  alone.  The  servant 
of  Christ  is  the  master  of  all  men.  '  All  things  are 
yours,  whether  Paul,  or  Apollos,  or  Cephas — all  are 
yours,  and  ye  are  Christ's.' 


READING  THE  LAW  WITH  TEARS  AND  JOY 

And  all  the  people  gathered  themselves  together  as  one  man  into  the  street  that 
was  before  the  water  gate  ;  and  they  spake  unto  Ezra  the  scribe  to  bring  the  book 
of  the  law  of  Moses,  which  the  Lord  had  commanded  to  Israel.  2.  And  Ezra  the 
priest  brought  the  law  before  the  congregation  both  of  men  and  women,  and  all 
that  could  hear  with  understanding,  upon  the  first  day  of  the  seventh  month. 
3.  And  he  read  therein  before  the  street  that  was  before  the  water  gate,  from 
the  morning  until  midday,  before  the  men  and  the  women,  and  those  that  could 
understand ;  and  the  ears  of  all  the  people  were  attentive  unto  the  book  of  the 
law.  i.  And  Ezra  the  scribe  stood  upon  a  pulpit  of  wood,  which  they  had  made 
for  the  purpose ;  and  beside  him  stood  Mattithiah,  and  Shema,  and  Anaiah, 
and  Urijah,  and  Hilkiah,  and  Maaseiah,  on  his  right  hand;  and  on  his  left 
hand  Pedaiah,  and  Mishael,  and  Malchiah,  and  Hashum,  and  Hashbadana, 
Zechariah,  and  Meshullam.  5.  And  Ezra  opened  the  book  in  the  sight  of  all 
the  people  ;  (for  he  was  above  all  the  people) ;  and  when  he  opened  it,  all 
the  people  stood  up:  6.  And  Ezra  blessed  the  Lord,  the  great  God.  And  all 
the  people  answered,  Amen,  Amen,  with  lifting  up  their  hands :  and  they 
bowed  their  heads,  and  worshipped  the  Lord  with  their  faces  to  the  groxmd. 
7.  Also  Jeshua,  and  Bani,  and  Sherebiah,  Jemin,  Akkub,  Shabbethai,  Hodijah, 
Maaseiah,  KeUta,  Azariab,  Jozabad,  Hanan,  Pelaiah,  and  the  Levites,  caused  the 


372      THE  BOOK  OF  NEHEMIAH     [ch.viii. 

people  to  understand  the  law :  and  the  people  stood  in  their  place.  8.  So  they 
read  in  the  book  in  the  law  of  God  distinctly,  and  gave  the  sense,  and  caused 
them  to  understand  the  reading.  9.  And  Nehemiah,  which  is  the  Tirshatha,  and 
Ezra  the  priest  the  scribe,  and  the  Levites  that  taught  the  people,  said  unto  all 
the  people,  This  day  is  holy  unto  the  Lord  your  God ;  mourn  not,  nor  weep. 
For  all  the  people  wept,  when  they  heard  the  words  of  the  law.  10.  Then  he  said 
unto  them.  Go  your  way,  eat  the  fat,  and  drink  the  sweet,  and  send  portions  unto 
them  for  whom  nothing  is  prepared  :  for  this  day  is  holy  unto  our  Lord  :  neither 
be  ye  sorry;  for  the  joy  of  the  Lord  is  your  strength.  11.  So  the  Levites  stilled  all 
the  people,  saying,  Hold  your  peace,  for  the  day  is  holy  ;  neither  he  ye  grieved. 
12.  And  all  the  people  went  their  way  to  eat,  and  to  drink,  and  to  send  portions, 
and  to  make  great  mirth,  because  they  had  understood  the  worda  that  were 
declared  unto  them.'— Neh.  viii.  1-12. 

The  wall  was  finished  on  the  twenty-fifth  day  of  the 
month  Elul,  which  was  the  sixth  month.  The  events 
recorded  in  this  passage  took  place  on  the  first  day 
of  the  seventh  month.  The  year  is  not  given,  but  the 
natural  inference  is  that  it  was  the  same  as  that  of 
I  he  finishing  of  the  wall ;  namely,  the  twentieth  of 
Artaxerxes.  If  so,  the  completion  of  the  fortifications 
to  which  Nehemiah  had  set  himself,  was  immediately 
followed  by  this  reading  of  the  law,  in  which  Ezra 
takes  the  lead.  The  two  men  stand  in  a  similar  re- 
lative position  to  that  of  Zerubbabel  and  Joshua,  the 
one  representing  the  civil  and  the  other  the  religious 
authority. 

According  to  Ezra  vii.  9,  Ezra  had  gone  to  Jerusalem 
about  thirteen  years  before  Nehemiah,  and  had  had  a 
weary  time  of  fighting  against  the  corruptions  which 
had  crept  in  among  the  returned  captives.  The  arrival 
of  Nehemiah  would  be  hailed  as  bringing  fresh,  young 
enthusiasm,  none  the  less  welcome  and  powerful  be- 
cause it  had  the  king's  authority  entrusted  to  it. 
Evidently  the  two  men  thoroughly  understood  one 
another,  and  pulled  together  heartily.  We  heard 
nothing  about  Ezra  while  the  wall  was  being  built.  But 
now  he  is  the  principal  figure,  and  Nehemiah  is  barely 
mentioned.  The  reasons  for  Ezra's  taking  the  promi- 
nent part  in  the  reading  of  the  law  are  given  in  the 


vs.  1-12]  READING  THE  LAW  873 

two  titles  by  which  he  is  designated  in  two  successive 
verses  (vers.  1,2).  He  was  'the  scribe'  and  also  'the 
priest,'  and  in  both  capacities  was  the  natural  person 
for  such  a  work. 

The  seventh  month  was  the  festival  month  of  the 
year,  its  first  day  being  that  of  the  Feast  of  trumpets, 
and  the  great  Feast  of  tabernacles  as  well  as  the  solemn 
day  of  atonement  occurring  in  it.  Possibly,  the  pros- 
pect of  the  coming  of  the  times  for  these  celebrations 
may  have  led  to  the  people's  wish  to  hear  the  law,  that 
they  might  duly  observe  the  appointed  ceremonial.  At 
all  events,  the  first  thing  to  note  is  that  it  was  in  con- 
sequence of  the  people's  wish  that  the  law  was  read  in 
their  hearing.  Neither  Ezra  nor  Nehemiah  originated 
the  gathering  together.  They  obeyed  a  popular  im- 
pulse which  they  had  not  created.  We  must  not, 
indeed,  give  the  multitude  credit  for  much  more  than 
the  wish  to  have  their  ceremonial  right.  But  there 
was  at  least  that  wish,  and  possibly  something  deeper 
and  more  spiritual.  The  walls  were  completed;  but 
the  true  defence  of  Israel  was  in  God,  and  the  condition 
of  His  defending  was  Israel's  obedience  to  His  law. 
The  people  were,  in  some  measure,  beginning  to  realise 
that  condition  with  new  clearness,  in  consequence  of 
the  new  fervour  which  Nehemiah  had  brought. 

It  is  singular  that,  during  his  thirteen  years  of  resi- 
dence, Ezra  is  not  recorded  to  have  promulgated 
the  law,  though  it  lay  at  the  basis  of  the  drastic 
reforms  which  he  was  able  to  carry  through.  Probably 
he  had  not  been  silent,  but  the  solemn  public  recitation 
of  the  law  was  felt  to  be  appropriate  on  occasion  of 
completing  the  wall.  Whether  the  people  had  heard 
it  before,  or,  as  seems  implied,  it  was  strange  to  them, 
their  desire  to  hear  it  may  stand  as  a  pattern  for  us  of 


374       THE  BOOK  OF  NEHEMlAH     [ch.viii. 

that  earnest  wish  to  know  God's  will  which  is  never 
cherished  in  vain.  He  who  does  not  intend  to  obey 
does  not  w^ish  to  know  the  law.  If  we  have  no  longing 
to  know  what  the  w^ill  of  the  Lord  is,  w^e  may  be  very 
sure  that  w^e  prefer  our  own  to  His.  If  we  desire  to 
know  it,  we  shall  desire  to  understand  the  Book  which 
contains  so  much  of  it.  Any  true  religion  in  the  heart 
will  make  us  eager  to  perceive,  and  willing  to  be  guided 
by,  the  will  of  God,  revealed  mainly  in  Scripture, 
in  the  Person,  works,  and  words  of  Jesus,  and  also 
in  waiting  hearts  by  the  Spirit,  and  in  those  things 
which  the  world  calls  '  circumstances '  and  faith  names 
'  providences.' 

II.  Verses  2-8  appear  to  tell  the  same  incidents  twice 
over — first,  more  generally  in  verses  2  and  3,  and  then 
more  minutely.  Such  expanded  repetition  is  character- 
istic of  the  Old  Testament  historical  style.  It  is  some- 
what difficult  to  make  sure  of  the  real  circumstances. 
Clearly  enough  there  was  a  solemn  assembly  of  men, 
women,  and  children  in  a  great  open  space  outside  one 
of  the  gates,  and  there,  from  dawn  till  noon,  the  law 
was  read  and  explained.  But  whether  Ezra  read  it 
all,  while  the  Levites  named  in  verse  7  explained  or 
paraphrased  or  translated  it,  or  whether  they  all  read 
in  turns,  or  whether  there  were  a  number  of  groups, 
each  of  which  had  a  teacher  who  both  read  and  ex- 
pounded, is  hard  to  determine.  At  all  events,  Ezra 
was  the  principal  figure,  and  began  the  reading. 

It  was  a  picturesque  scene.  The  sun,  rising  over  the 
slopes  of  Olivet,  would  fall  on  the  gathered  crowd, 
if  the  water-gate  was,  as  is  probable,  on  the  east  or 
south-east  side  of  the  city.  Beneath  the  fresh  fortifi- 
cations probably,  which  would  act  as  a  sounding-board 
for  the  reader,  was  set  up  a  scafPold  high  above  the 


vs.  1-12]         READING  THE  LAW  375 

crowd,  large  enough  to  hold  Ezra  and  thirteen  sup- 
porters—principal men,  no  doubt— seven  on  one  side 
of  him  and  six  on  the  other.  Probably  a  name  has 
dropped  out,  and  the  numbers  were  equal.  There,  in 
the  morning  light,  with  the  new  walls  for  a  back- 
ground, stood  Ezra  on  his  rostrum,  and  amid  reverent 
silence,  lifted  high  the  sacred  roll.  A  common  impulse 
swayed  the  crowd,  and  brought  them  all  to  their  feet 
—token  at  once  of  respect  and  obedient  attention. 
Probably  many  of  them  had  never  seen  a  sacred  roll. 
To  them  all  it  was  comparatively  unfamiliar.  No 
wonder  that,  as  Ezra's  voice  rose  in  prayer,  the  whole 
assembly  fell  on  their  faces  in  adoration,  and  every  lip 
responded 'Amen!  amen!' 

Much  superstition  may  have  mingled  with  the  rever- 
ence. No  doubt,  there  was  then  what  we  are  often 
solemnly  warned  against  now,  bibliolatry.  But  in  this 
time  of  critical  investigation  it  is  not  the  divine 
element  in  Scripture  which  is  likely  to  be  exaggerated; 
and  few  are  likely  to  go  wrong  in  the  direction  of 
paying  too  much  reverence  to  the  Book  in  which,  as  is 
still  believed,  God  has  revealed  His  will  and  Himself. 
While  welcoming  all  investigations  which  throw  light 
on  its  origin  or  its  meaning,  and  perfectly  recognising 
the  human  element  in  it,  we  should  learn  the  lesson 
taught  by  that  waiting  crowd  prone  on  their  faces, 
and  blessing  God  for  His  word.  Such  attitude  must 
ever  precede  reading  it,  if  we  are  to  read  aright. 

Hour  after  hour  the  recitation  went  on.  We  must 
let  the  question  of  the  precise  form  of  the  events 
remain  undetermined.  It  is  somewhat  singular  that 
thirteen  names  are  enumerated  as  of  the  men  who 
stood  by  Ezra,  and  thirteen  as  those  of  the  readers  or 
expounders.      It   may   be   the    case   that  the  former 


376      THE  BOOK  OF  NEHEMIAH     [ch.viii. 

number  is  complete,  though  uneven,  and  that  there  was 
some  reason  unknown  for  dividing  the  audience  into 
just  so  many  sections.  The  second  set  of  thirteen  was 
not  composed  of  the  same  men  as  the  first.  They  seem 
to  have  been  Levites,  whose  office  of  assisting  at  the 
menial  parts  of  the  sacrifices  was  now  elevated  into 
that  of  setting  forth  the  law.  Probably  the  portions 
read  were  such  as  bore  especially  on  ritual,  though  the 
tears  of  the  listeners  are  sufficient  proof  that  they  had 
heard  some  things  that  went  deeper  than  that. 

The  word  rendered  '  distinctly '  in  the  Revised  Version 
(margin,  with  an  interpretation)  is  ambiguous,  and 
may  either  mean  that  the  Levites  explained  or  that 
they  translated  the  words.  The  former  is  the  more 
probable,  as  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the 
audience,  most  of  whom  had  been  born  in  the  land, 
were  ignorant  of  Hebrew.  But  if  the  ritual  had  been 
irregularly  observed,  and  the  circle  of  ideas  in  the  law 
become  unfamiliar,  many  explanations  would  be  neces- 
sary. It  strikes  one  as  touching  and  strange  that  such 
an  assembly  should  be  needed  after  so  many  centuries 
of  national  existence.  It  sums  up  in  one  vivid  picture 
the  sin  and  suffering  of  the  nation.  To  observe  that 
law  had  been  the  condition  of  their  prosperity.  To 
bind  it  on  their  hearts  should  have  been  their  delight 
and  would  have  been  their  life ;  and  here,  after  all 
these  generations,  the  best  of  the  nation  are  assembled, 
so  ignorant  of  it  that  they  cannot  even  understand  it 
when  they  hear -'it.  Absorption  with  worldly  things 
has  an  awful  power  of  dulling  spiritual  apprehension. 
Neglect  of  God's  law  weakens  the  power  of  under- 
standing it. 

This  scene  was  in  the  truest  sense  a  'revival.'  We 
may  learn  the  true  way  of  bringing  men  back  to  God ; 


vs.  1-12]         READING  THE  LAW  377 

namely,  the  faithful  exposition  and  enforcement  of 
God's  will  and  word.  We  may  learn,  too,  what  should 
be  the  aim  of  public  teachers  of  religion  ;  namely,  first 
and  foremost,  the  clear  setting  forth  of  God's  truth. 
Their  first  business  is  to  '  give  the  sense,  so  that  they 
understand  the  reading';  and  that,  not  for  merely  in- 
tellectual purposes,  but  that,  like  the  crow^d  outside  the 
water-gate  on  that  hot  noonday,  men  may  be  moved 
to  penitence,  and  then  lifted  to  the  joy  of  the  Lord. 

The  first  day  of  the  seventh  month  was  the  Feast 
of  trumpets  ;  and  when  the  reading  was  over,  and  its 
effects  of  tears  and  sorrow  for  disobedience  were  seen, 
the  preachers  changed  their  tone,  to  bring  consolation 
and  exhort  to  gladness.  Nehemiah  had  taken  no  part 
in  reading  the  law,  as  Ezra  the  priest  and  his  Levites 
were  more  appropriately  set  to  that.  But  he  joins 
them  in  exhorting  the  people  to  dry  their  tears,  and 
go  joyfully  to  the  feast.  These  exhortations  contain 
many  thoughts  universally  applicable.  They  teach 
that  even  those  who  are  most  conscious  of  sin  and 
breaches  of  God's  law  should  weep  indeed,  but  should 
swiftly  pass  from  tears  to  joy.  They  do  not  teach  how 
that  passage  is  to  be  effected ;  and  in  so  far  they  are 
imperfect,  and  need  to  be  supplemented  by  the  New 
Testament  teaching  of  forgiveness  through  the  sacri- 
fice of  Jesus  Christ.  But  in  their  clear  discernment 
that  sorrow  is  not  meant  to  be  a  permanent  character- 
istic of  religion,  and  that  gladness  is  a  more  acceptable 
offering  than  tears,  they  teach  a  valuable  lesson, 
needed  always  by  men  who  fancy  that  they  must  atone 
for  their  sins  by  their  own  sadness,  and  that  religion  is 
gloomy,  harsh,  and  crabbed. 

Further,  these  exhortations  to  festal  gladness  breathe 
the  characteristic  Old  Testament  tone  of  wholesome 


378      THE  BOOK  OF  NEHEMIAH     [cH.vni. 

enjoyment  of  material  good  as  a  part  of  religion. 
The  way  of  looking  at  eating  and  drinking  and  the 
like,  as  capable  of  being  made  acts  of  worship,  has  been 
too  often  forgotten  by  two  kinds  of  men — saints  who 
have  sought  sanctity  in  asceticism ;  and  sensualists 
who  have  taken  deep  draughts  of  such  pleasures  with- 
out calling  on  the  name  of  the  Lord,  and  so  have  failed 
to  find  His  gifts  a  cup  of  salvation.  It  is  possible  to 
*  eat  and  drink  and  see  God,'  as  the  elders  of  Israel  did 
on  Sinai. 

Further,  the  plain  duty  of  remembering  the  needy 
while  we  enjoy  God's  gifts  is  beautifully  enjoined  here. 
The  principle  underlying  the  commandment  to  '  send 
portions  to  them  for  whom  nothing  is  provided ' — that 
is,  for  w^hom  no  feast  has  been  dressed — is  that  all 
gifts  are  held  in  trust,  that  nothing  is  bestowed  on  us 
for  our  own  good  only,  but  that  we  are  in  all  things 
stewards.  The  law  extends  to  the  smallest  and  to 
the  greatest  possessions.  We  have  no  right  to  feast 
on  anything  unless  we  share  it,  whether  it  be  festal 
dainties  or  the  bread  that  came  down  from  heaven. 
To  divide  our  portion  with  others  is  the  way  to  make 
our  portion  greater  as  well  as  sweeter. 

Further, '  the  joy  of  the  Lord  is  your  strength.'  By 
strength  here  seems  to  be  meant  a  stronghold.  If  we 
fix  our  desires  on  God,  and  have  trained  our  hearts  to 
find  sweeter  delights  in  communion  with  Him  than  in 
any  earthly  good,  our  religion  will  have  lifted  us  above 
mists  and  clouds  into  clear  air  above,  where  sorrows 
and  changes  will  have  little  power  to  affect  us.  If  we 
are  to  rejoice  in  the  Lord,  it  will  be  possible  for  us  to 
'  rejoice  always,'  and  that  joy  will  be  as  a  refuge  from 
all  the  ills  that  flesh  is  heir  to.  Dwelling  in  God,  we 
shall  dwell  safely,  and  be  far  from  the  fear  of  evil. 


THE  JOY  OF  THE  LORD 

'The  joy  of  the  Lord  is  your  strength.'— Neh.  viii.  10. 

Judaism,  in  its  formal  and  ceremonial  aspect,  was  a 
religion  of  gladness.  The  feast  was  the  great  act  of 
worship.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  that  Christianity, 
the  perfecting  of  that  ancient  system,  has  been  less 
markedly  felt  to  be  a  religion  of  joy;  for  it  brings 
with  it  far  deeper  and  more  solemn  views  about  man 
in  his  nature,  condition,  responsibilities,  destinies,  than 
ever  prevailed  before,  under  any  system  of  worship. 
And  yet  all  deep  religion  ought  to  be  joyful,  and  all 
strong  religion  assuredly  will  be  so. 

Here,  in  the  incident  before  us,  there  has  come  a 
time  in  Nehemiah's  great  enterprise,  when  the  law, 
long  forgotten,  long  broken  by  the  captives,  is  now  to 
be  established  again  as  the  rule  of  the  newly-founded 
commonwealth.  Naturally  enough  there  comes  a  re- 
membrance of  many  sins  in  the  past  history  of  the 
people;  and  tears  not  unnaturally  mingle  with  the 
thankfulness  that  again  they  are  a  nation,  having  a 
divine  worship  and  a  divine  law  in  their  midst.  The 
leader  of  them,  knowing  for  one  thing  that  if  the 
spirits  of  his  people  once  began  to  flag,  they  could  not 
face  nor  conquer  the  difficulties  of  their  position,  said 
to  them,  'This  day  is  holy  unto  the  Lord:  this  feast 
that  we  are  keeping  is  a  day  of  devout  worship ;  there- 
fore mourn  not,  nor  weep :  go  your  way ;  eat  the  fat, 
and  drink  the  sweet,  and  send  portions  unto  them  for 
whom  nothing  is  prepared ;  neither  be  ye  sorry,  for 
the  joy  of  the  Lord  is  your  strength.'  You  will 
make  nothing  of  it  by  indulgence  in  lamentation 
and  in  mourning.    You  will  have  no  more  power  for 

379 


3&0      THE  BOOK  OF  NEHEMIAH     [cH.vin. 

obedience,  you  will  not  be  fit  for  your  work,  if  you 
fall  into  a  desponding  state.  Be  thankful  and  glad; 
and  remember  that  the  purest  worship  is  the  worship 
of  God-fixed  joy, '  the  joy  of  the  Lord  is  your  strength.* 
And  that  is  as  true,  brethren !  with  regard  to  us,  as  it 
ever  was  in  these  old  times ;  and  we,  I  think,  need  the 
lesson  contained  in  this  saying  of  Nehemiah's,  because 
of  some  prevalent  tendencies  amongst  us,  no  less  than 
these  Jews  did.  Take  some  simple  thoughts  suggested 
by  this  text  which  are  both  important  in  themselves 
and  needful  to  be  made  emphatic  because  so  often 
forgotten  in  the  ordinary  type  of  Christian  character. 
They  are  these.  Religious  Joy  is  the  natural  result  of 
faith.  It  is  a  Christian  duty.  It  is  an  important 
element  in  Christian  strength. 

I.  Joy  in  the  Lord  is  the  natural  result  of  Christian 
Faith. 

There  is  a  natural  adaptation  or  provision  in  the 
Gospel,  both  by  what  it  brings  to  us  and  by  what  it 
takes  away  from  us,  to  make  a  calm,  and  settled,  and 
deep  gladness,  the  prevalent  temper  of  the  Christian 
spirit.  In  what  it  gives  us,  I  say,  and  in  what  it 
takes  away  from  us.  It  gives  us  w^hat  w^e  call  well 
a  sense  of  acceptance  with  God,  it  gives  us  God  for 
the  rest  of  our  spirits,  it  gives  us  the  communion 
with  Him  which  in  proportion  as  it  is  real,  will 
be  still,  and  in  proportion  as  it  is  still,  will  be  all 
bright  and  joyful.  It  takes  away  from  us  the  fear 
that  lies  before  us,  the  strifes  that  lie  within  us,  the 
desperate  conflict  that  is  waged  between  a  man's  con- 
science and  his  inclinations,  between  his  will  and  his 
passions,  which  tears  the  heart  asunder,  and  always 
makes  sorrow  and  tumult  wherever  it  comes.  It  takes 
away  the  sense  of  sin.     It  gives  us,  instead  of  the 


V.  10]  THE  JOY  OF  THE  LORD  381 

torpid  conscience,  or  the  angrily-stinging  conscience 
—a  conscience  all  calm  from  its  accusations,  with  all 
the  sting  drawn  out  of  it:— for  quiet  peace  lies  in 
the  heart  of  the  man  that  is  trusting  in  the  Lord. 
The  Gospel  works  joy,  because  the  soul  is  at  rest  in 
God;  joy,  because  every  function  of  the  spiritual 
nature  has  found  now  its  haven  and  its  object;  joy, 
because  health  has  come,  and  the  healthy  working  of 
the  body  or  of  the  spirit  is  itself  a  gladness;  joy, 
because  the  dim  future  is  painted  (where  it  is  painted 
at  all)  with  shapes  of  light  and  beauty,  and  because 
the  very  vagueness  of  these  is  an  element  in  the  great- 
ness of  its  revelation.  The  joy  that  is  in  Christ  is 
deep  and  abiding.  Faith  in  Him  naturally  works 
gladness. 

I  do  not  forget  that,  on  the  other  side,  it  is  equally 
true  that  the  Christian  faith  has  as  marked  and  almost 
as  strong  an  adaptation  to  produce  a  solemn  sorrow — 
solemn,  manly,  noble,  and  strong.  '  As  sorrowful,  yet 
always  rejoicing,'  is  the  rule  of  the  Christian  life.  If 
we  think  of  what  our  faith  does ;  of  the  light  that  it 
casts  upon  our  condition,  upon  our  nature,  upon  our 
responsibilities,  upon  our  sins,  and  upon  our  destinies, 
we  can  easily  see  how,  if  gladness  be  one  part  of  its 
operation,  no  less  really  and  truly  is  sadness  another. 
Brethren!  all  great  thoughts  have  a  solemn  quiet  in 
them,  which  not  unfrequently  merges  into  a  still 
sorrow.  There  is  nothing  more  contemptible  in  itself, 
and  there  is  no  more  sure  mark  of  a  trivial  nature 
and  a  trivial  round  of  occupations,  than  unshaded 
gladness,  that  rests  on  no  deep  foundations  of  quiet, 
patient  grief;  grief,  because  I  know  what  I  am  and 
what  I  ought  to  be;  grief,  because  I  have  learnt  the 
•exceeding  sinfulness  of  sin';   grief,  because,  looking 


382       THE  BOOK  OF  NEHEMIAH     [ch.viii. 

out  upon  the  world,  I  see,  as  other  men  do  not  see, 
hell-fire  burning  at  the  back  of  the  mirth  and  the 
laughter,  and  know  what  it  is  that  men  are  hurrying 
to !  Do  you  remember  who  it  was  that  stood  by  the 
side  of  the  one  poor  dumb  man,  whose  tongue  He  was 
going  to  loose,  and  looking  up  to  heaven,  sighed  before 
He  could  say,  '  Be  opened '  ?  Do  you  remember  that  of 
Him  it  is  said,  'God  hath  anointed  Thee  with  the  oil 
of  gladness  above  Thy  fellows';  and  also,  'a  Man  of 
sorrows,  and  acquainted  with  grief '  ?  And  do  you  not 
think  that  both  these  characteristics  are  to  be  repeated 
in  the  operations  of  His  Gospel  upon  every  heart  that 
receives  it  ?  And  if,  by  the  hopes  it  breathes  into  us, 
by  the  fears  that  it  takes  away  from  us,  by  the  union 
with  God  that  it  accomplishes  for  us,  by  the  fellowship 
that  it  implants  in  us,  it  indeed  anoints  us  all  'with 
the  oil  of  gladness ' ;  yet,  on  the  other  hand,  by  the 
sense  of  mine  own  sin  that  it  teaches  me ;  by  the  con- 
flict with  weakness  which  it  makes  to  be  the  law  of 
my  life ;  by  the  clear  vision  which  it  gives  me  of  '  the 
law  of  my  members  warring  against  the  law  of  my 
mind,  and  bringing  me  into  subjection';  by  the  in- 
tensity which  it  breathes  into  all  my  nature,  and  by 
the  thoughts  that  it  presents  of  what  sin  leads  to,  and 
what  the  world  at  present  is,  the  Gospel,  wheresoever 
it  comes,  will  infuse  a  wise,  valiant  sadness  as  the  very 
foundation  of  character.  Yes,  joy,  but  sorrow  too !  the 
joy  of  the  Lord,  but  sorrow  as  we  look  on  our  own  sin 
and  the  world's  woe !  the  head  anointed  with  the  oil 
of  gladness,  but  also  crowned  with  thorns ! 

These  two  are  not  contradictory.  These  two  states  of 
mind,  both  of  them  the  natural  operations  of  any  deep 
faith,  may  co-exist  and  blend  into  one  another,  so  as  that 
the  gladness  is  sobered,  and  chastened,  and  made  manly 


v.lO]  THE  JOY  OF  THE  LORD  383 

and  noble ;  and  that  the  sorrow  is  like  some  thunder- 
cloud, all  streaked  with  bars  of  sunshine,  that  pierce 
into  its  deepest  depths.  The  joy  lives  in  the  midst  of  the 
sorrow;  the  sorrow^  springs  from  the  same  root  as  the 
gladness.  The  two  do  not  clash  against  each  other,  or 
reduce  the  emotion  to  a  neutral  indifference,  but  they 
blend  into  one  another;  just  as,  in  the  Arctic  regions, 
deep  down  beneath  the  cold  snow,  with  its  white  desola- 
tion and  its  barren  death,  you  will  find  the  budding 
of  the  early  spring  flowers  and  the  fresh  green  grass ; 
just  as  some  kinds  of  fire  burn  below  the  water ;  just  as, 
in  the  midst  of  the  barren  and  undrinkable  sea,  there 
may  be  welling  up  some  little  fountain  of  fresh  water 
that  comes  from  a  deeper  depth  than  the  great  ocean 
around  it,  and  pours  its  sweet  streams  along  the  surface 
of  the  salt  waste.  Gladness,  because  I  love,  for  love  is 
gladness ;  gladness,  because  I  trust,  for  trust  is  glad- 
ness ;  gladness,  because  I  obey,  for  obedience  is  a  meat 
that  others  know  not  of,  and  light  comes  when  we  do 
His  will!  But  sorrow,  because  still  I  am  wrestling 
with  sin ;  sorrow,  because  still  I  have  not  perfect 
fellowship ;  sorrow,  because  mine  eye,  purified  by  my 
living  with  God,  sees  earth,  and  sin,  and  life,  and  death, 
and  the  generations  of  men,  and  the  darkness  beyond, 
in  some  measure  as  God  sees  them !  And  yet,  the 
sorrow  is  surface,  and  the  joy  is  central;  the  sorrow 
springs  from  circumstance,  and  the  gladness  from 
the  essence  of  the  thing; — and  therefore  the  sorrow 
is  transitory,  and  the  gladness  is  perennial.  For  the 
Christian  life  is  all  like  one  of  those  sweet  spring 
show^ers  in  early  April,  when  the  rain-drops  weave  for 
us  a  mist  that  hides  the  sunshine ;  and  yet  the  hidden 
sun  is  in  every  sparkling  drop,  and  they  are  all 
saturated  and  steeped  in  its  light.     *The  joy  of  the 


384      THE  BOOK  OF  NEHExMIAH     [cH.vni. 

Lord'  is  the  natural  result  and  offspring  of  all  Christian 
faith. 

11.  And  now,  secondly,  the  'joy  of  the  Lord'  or  re- 
joicing in  God,  is  a  matter  of  Christian  duty. 

It  is  a  commandment  here,  and  it  is  a  command  in  the 
New  Testament  as  well.  '  Neither  be  ye  sorry,  for  the  joy 
of  the  Lord  is  your  strength.'  I  need  not  quote  to  you 
the  frequent  repetitions  of  the  same  injunction  which 
the  Apostle  Paul  gives  us,  '  Rejoice  in  the  Lord  always, 
and  again  I  say,  Rejoice';  'Rejoice  evermore,' and  the 
like.  The  fact  that  this  joy  is  enjoined  us  suggests  to 
us  a  thought  or  two,  worth  looking  at. 

You  may  say  with  truth,  'My  emotions  of  joy  and 
sorrow  are  not  under  my  own  control :  I  cannot  help 
being  glad  and  sad  as  circumstances  dictate.'  But  yet 
here  it  lies,  a  commandment.  It  is  a  duty,  a  thing 
that  the  Apostle  enjoins;  in  which,  of  course,  is  im- 
plied, that  somehow  or  other  it  is  to  a  large  extent 
within  one's  own  power,  and  that  even  the  indulgence 
in  this  emotion,  and  the  degree  to  which  a  Christian 
life  shall  be  a  cheerful  life,  is  dependent  in  a  large 
measure  on  our  ow^n  volitions,  and  stands  on  the  same 
footing  as  our  obedience  to  God's  other  command- 
ments. 

We  can  to  a  very  great  extent  control  even  our  own 
emotions ;  but  then,  besides,  we  can  do  more  than  that. 
It  may  be  quite  true,  that  you  cannot  help  feeling 
sorrowful  in  the  presence  of  sorrowful  thoughts,  and 
glad  in  the  presence  of  thoughts  that  naturally  kindle 
gladness.  But  I  will  tell  you  what  you  can  do  or 
refrain  from  doing — you  can  either  go  and  stand  in  the 
light,  or  you  can  go  and  stand  in  the  shadow.  You 
can  either  fix  your  attention  upon,  and  make  the  pre- 
dominant subject  of  your  religious  contemplations,  a 


V.  10]  THE  JOY  OF  THE  LORD  885 

truth  which  shall  make  you  glad  and  strong,  or  a  half- 
truth,  which  shall  make  you  sorrowful,  and  therefore 
weak.  Your  meditations  may  either  centre  mainly 
upon  your  own  selves,  your  faults  and  failings,  and 
the  like;  or  they  may  centre  mainly  upon  God  and 
His  love,  Christ  and  His  grace,  the  Holy  Spirit  and 
His  communion.  You  may  either  fill  your  soul  with 
joyful  thoughts,  or  though  a  true  Christian,  a  real, 
devout,  God-accepted  believer,  you  may  be  so  mis- 
apprehending the  nature  of  the  Gospel,  and  your  re- 
lation to  it,  its  promises  and  precepts,  its  duties  and 
predictions,  as  that  the  prevalent  tinge  and  cast  of 
your  religion  shall  be  solemn  and  almost  gloomy,  and 
not  lighted  up  and  irradiated  with  the  felt  sense  of 
God's  presence — with  the  strong,  healthy  consciousness 
that  you  are  a  forgiven  and  justified  man,  and  that  you 
are  going  to  be  a  glorified  one. 

And  thus  far  (and  it  is  a  long  way)  by  the  selection 
or  the  rejection  of  the  appropriate  and  proper  subjects 
which  shall  make  the  main  portion  of  our  religious 
contemplation,  and  shall  be  the  food  of  our  devout 
thoughts,  we  can  determine  the  complexion  of  our 
religious  life.  Just  as  you  inject  colouring  matter 
into  the  fibres  of  some  anatomical  preparation;  so  a 
Christian  may,  as  it  were,  inject  into  all  the  veins  of 
his  religious  character  and  life,  either  the  bright  tints 
of  gladness  or  the  dark  ones  of  self -despondency ;  and 
the  result  will  be  according  to  the  thing  that  he  has 
put  into  them.  If  your  thoughts  are  chiefly  occupied 
with  God,  and  what  He  has  done  and  is  for  you,  then 
you  will  have  peaceful  joy.  If,  on  the  other  hand, 
they  are  bent  ever  on  yourself  and  your  own  unbelief, 
then  you  will  always  be  sad.  You  can  make  your 
choice. 

2b 


386       THE  BOOK  OF  NEHEMIAH     [cH.vm. 

Christian  men,  the  joy  of  the  Lord  is  a  duty.  It  is 
so  because,  as  we  have  seen,  it  is  the  natural  effect  of 
faith,  because  we  can  do  much  to  regulate  our  emotions 
directly,  and  much  more  to  determine  them  by  deter- 
mining what  set  of  thoughts  shall  engage  us.  A  wise 
and  strong  faith  is  our  duty.  To  keep  our  emotional 
nature  well  under  control  of  reason  and  will  is  our 
duty.  To  lose  thoughts  of  ourselves  in  God's  truth 
about  Himself  is  our  duty.  If  we  do  these  things,  we 
cannot  fail  to  have  Christ's  joy  remaining  in  us,  and 
making  ours  full.  If  we  have  not  that  blessed  posses- 
sion abiding  with  us,  which  He  lived  and  died  to  give 
us,  there  is  something  wrong  in  us  somewhere. 

It  seems  to  me  that  this  is  a  truth  which  we  have 
great  need,  my  friends,  to  lay  to  heart.  It  is  of  no 
great  consequence  that  we  should  practically  confute 
the  impotent  old  sneer  about  religion  as  being  a 
gloomy  thing.  One  does  not  need  to  mind  much  what 
some  people  say  on  that  matter.  The  world  would 
call  'the  joy  of  the  Lord'  gloom,  just  as  much  as  it 
calls  'godly  sorrow'  gloom.  But  we  are  losing  for 
ourselves  a  power  and  an  energy  of  which  we  have 
no  conception,  unless  we  feel  that  joy  is  a  duty,  and 
unless  we  believe  that  not  to  be  joyful  in  the  Lord  is, 
therefore,  more  than  a  misfortune,  it  is  a  fault. 

I  do  not  forget  that  the  comparative  absence  of  this 
happy,  peaceful  sense  of  acceptance,  harmony,  oneness 
with  God,  springs  sometimes  from  temperament,  and 
depends  on  our  natural  disposition.  Of  course  the 
natural  character  determines  to  a  large  extent  the 
perspective  of  our  conceptions  of  Christian  truth,  and 
the  colouring  of  our  inner  religious  life.  I  do  not 
mean  to  say,  for  a  moment,  that  there  is  one  uniform 
type  to  which  all  m.ust  be  conformed,  or  they  sin.    There 


V.  10]  THE  JOY  OF  THE  LORD  887 

is  indeed  one  type,  the  perfect  manhood  of  Jesus,  but 
it  is  all  comprehensive,  and  each  variety  of  our  frag- 
mentary manhood  finds  its  own  perfecting,  and  not  its 

'  transmutation  to  another  fashion  of  man,  in  being 
conformed  to  Him.  Some  of  us  are  naturally  faint- 
hearted, timid,  sceptical  of  any  success,  grave,  melan- 
choly, or  hard  to  stir  to  any  emotion.  To  such  there 
will  be  an  added  difficulty  in  making  quiet  confident 
joy  any  very  familiar  guest  in  their  home  or  in  their 
place  of  prayer.  But  even  such  should  remember  that 
the  '  powers  of  the  world  to  come,'  the  energies  of  the 
Gospel,  are  given  to  us  for  the  very  express  purpose  of 
overcoming,  as  well  as  of  hallowing,  natural  disposi- 
tions. If  it  be  our  duty  to  rejoice  in  the  Lord,  it  is 
no  sufficient  excuse  to  urge  for  not  responding  to  the 
reiterated  call,  '  I  myself  am  disposed  to  sadness.' 

Whilst    making   all   allowances   for   the    diversities 
of  character,  which  will  always  operate  to  diversify 

,  the  cast  of  the  inner  life  in  each  individual,  we  think 
that,  in  the  great  majority  of  instances,  there  are  two 
things,  both  faults,  which  have  a  great  deal  more  to 
do  with  the  absence  of  joy  from  much  Christian  ex- 
perience, than  any  unfortunate  natural  tendency  to  the 
dark  side  of  things.  The  one  is,  an  actual  deficiency  in 
the  depth  and  reality  of  our  faith ;  and  the  other  is, 

,  a  misapprehension  of  the  position  which  we  have  a 
right  to  take  and  are  bound  to  take. 

There  is  an    actual    deficiency  in    our   faith.      Oh, 
brethren !  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  Christians 

'  do  not  find  that  the  Lord  with  them  is  the  Lord  their 
strength  and  joy,  as  well  as  the  Lord  '  their  righteous- 

,  ness ' ;  when  the  amount  of  their  fellowship  with  Him  is 
so  small,  and  the  depth  of  it  so  shallow,  as  we  usually 
find  it.    The  first  true  vision  that  a  sinful  soul  has  of 


388       THE  BOOK  OF  NEHEMIAH     [ch.viii. 

God,  the  imperfect  beginnings  of  religion,  usually  are 
accompanied  with  intense  self-abhorrence,  and  sorrow- 
ing tears  of  penitence.  A  further  closer  vision  of  the 
love  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ  brings  with  it  'joy  and 
peace  in  believing.'  But  the  prolongation  of  these 
throughout  life  requires  the  steadfast  continuousness 
of  gaze  towards  Him.  It  is  only  where  there  is  much 
faith  and  consequent  love  that  there  is  much  joy.  Let 
us  search  our  own  hearts.  If  there  is  but  little  heat 
around  the  bulb  of  the  thermometer,  no  wonder  that 
the  mercury  marks  a  low  degree.  If  there  is  but  small 
faith,  there  will  not  be  much  gladness.  The  road  into 
Giant  Despair's  castle  is  through  doubt,  which  doubt 
comes  from  an  absence,  a  sinful  absence,  in  our  own 
experience,  of  the  felt  presence  of  God,  and  the  felt 
force  of  the  verities  of  His  Gospel. 

But  then,  besides  that,  there  is  another  fault:  not 
a  fault  in  the  sense  of  crime  or  sin,  but  a  fault  (and  a 
great  one)  in  the  sense  of  error  and  misapprehension. 
We  as  Christians  do  not  take  the  position  which  we 
have  a  right  to  take  and  that  we  are  bound  to  take. 
Men  venture  themselves  upon  God's  word  as  they  do 
on  doubtful  ice,  timidly  putting  a  light  foot  out,  to 
feel  if  it  will  bear  them,  and  always  having  the  tacit 
fear,  '  Now,  it  is  going  to  crack  ! '  You  must  cast  your- 
selves on  God's  Gospel  with  all  your  weight,  without 
any  hanging  back,  without  any  doubt,  without  even 
the  shadow  of  a  suspicion  that  it  will  give — that  the 
firm,  pure  floor  will  give,  and  let  you  through  into  the 
water!  A  Christian  shrink  from  saying  what  the 
Apostle  said,  'I  k7iow  in  whom  I  have  believed,  and 
am  persuaded  that  He  is  able  to  keep  that  which  I 
have  committed  to  Him  until  that  day ' !  A  Christian 
fancy  that  salvation  is  a  future  thing,  and  forget  that 


v.io]         THE  JOY  OF  THE  LORD  389 

it  is  a  present  thing !  A  Christian  tremble  to  profess 
'assurance  of  hope,'  forgetting  that  there  is  no  hope 
strong  enough  to  bear  the  stress  of  a  life's  sorrows, 
which  is  not  a  conviction  certain  as  one's  own  existence ! 
Brethren !  understand  that  the  Gospel  is  a  Gospel  which 
brings  a  present  salvation;  and  try  to  feel  that  it  is 
not  presumption,  but  simply  acting  out  the  very  funda- 
mental principle  of  it,  when  you  are  not  afraid  to  say, 
'  I  know  that  my  Redeemer  is  yonder,  and  I  know  that 
He  loves  me!'  Try  to  feel,  I  say,  that  by  faith  you 
have  a  right  to  take  that  position, '  Now,  we  know  that 
we  are  the  sons  of  God';  that  you  have  a  right  to 
claim  for  yourselves,  and  that  you  are  falling  beneath 
the  loftiness  of  the  gift  that  is  given  to  you  unless  you 
do  claim  for  yourselves,  the  place  of  sons,  accepted, 
loved,  sure  to  be  glorified  at  God's  right  hand.  Am  I 
teaching  presumption  ?  am  I  teaching  carelessness,  or 
a  dispensing  with  self-examination?  No,  but  I  am 
saying  this :  If  a  man  have  once  felt,  and  feel,  in 
however  small  and  feeble  a  degree,  and  depressed  by 
whatsoever  sense  of  daily  transgressions,  if  he  feel, 
faint  like  the  first  movement  of  an  imprisoned  bird 
in  its  G^g,  the  feeble  pulse  of  an  almost  imperceptible 
and  fluttering  faith  beat — then  that  man  has  a  right 
to  say,  '  God  is  mine  I ' 

As  one  of  our  great  teachers,  little  remembered  now 
said,  '  Let  me  take  my  personal  salvation  for  granted ' 
— and  what?  and  *be  idle?'  No;  'and  xvork  from  it.' 
Ay,  brethren !  a  Christian  is  not  to  be  for  ever  asking 
himself,  'Am  I  a  Christian?'  He  is  not  to  be  for  ever 
looking  into  himself  for  marks  and  signs  that  he 
is.  He  is  to  look  into  himself  to  discover  sins,  that 
he  may  by  God's  help  cast  them  out,  to  discover  sins 
that  shall  teach  him  to  say  with  greater  thankfulness, 


390      THE  BOOK  OF  NEHEMIAH    [oh.viii. 

'What  a  redemption  this  is  which  I  possess!'  but  he 
is  to  base  his  convictions  that  he  is  God's  child  upon 
something  other  than  his  own  characteristics  and  the 
feebleness  of  his  own  strength.  He  is  to  have  *  joy  in 
the  Lord '  whatever  may  be  his  sorrow  from  outward 
things.  And  I  believe  that  if  Christian  people  would 
lay  that  thought  to  heart,  they  would  understand 
better  how  the  natural  operation  of  the  Gospel  is  to 
make  them  glad,  and  how  rejoicing  in  the  Lord  is  a 
Christian  duty. 

III.  And  now  with  regard  to  the  other  thought  that 
still  remains  to  be  considered,  namely,  that  rejoicing 
in  the  Lord  is  a  source  of  strength, — I  have  already 
anticipated,  fragmentarily,  nearly  all  that  I  could  have 
said  here  in  a  more  systematic  form.  All  gladness  has 
something  to  do  with  our  efficiency;  for  it  is  the 
prerogative  of  man  that  his  force  comes  from  his 
mind,  and  not  from  his  body.  That  old  song  about 
a  sad  heart  tiring  in  a  mile,  is  as  true  in  regard  to 
the  Gospel,  and  the  works  of  Christian  people,  as  in 
any  other  case.  If  we  have  hearts  full  of  light,  and 
souls  at  rest  in  Christ,  and  the  wealth  and  blessedness 
of  a  tranquil  gladness  lying  there,  and  filling  our 
being;  work  will  be  easy,  endurance  will  be  easy, 
sorrow  will  be  bearable,  trials  will  not  be  so  very 
hard,  and  above  all  temptations  we  shall  be  lifted, 
and  set  upon  a  rock.  If  the  soul  is  full,  and  full  of 
joy,  what  side  of  it  will  be  exposed  to  the  assault  of  any 
temptation  ?  If  the  appeal  be  to  fear,  the  gladness  that 
is  there  is  an  answer.  If  the  appeal  be  to  passion,  desire, 
wish  for  pleasure  of  any  sort,  there  is  no  need  for  any 
more — the  heart  is  full.  And  so  the  gladness  which 
rests  in  Christ  will  be  a  gladness  which  will  fit  us 
for  all  service  and  for  all  endurance,  which  will  be 


V.  10]  SABBATH  OBSERVANCE  891 

unbroken  by  any  sorrow,  and,  like  the  magic  shield  of 
the  old  legends,  invisible,  impenetrable,  in  its  crystal- 
line purity  will  stand  before  the  tempted  heart,  and 
will  repel  all  the  '  fiery  darts  of  the  wicked.' 

'The  joy  of  the  Lord  is  your  strength,'  my  brother  I 
Nothing  else  is.  No  vehement  resolutions,  no  sense  of 
his  own  sinfulness,  nor  even  contrite  remembrance 
of  past  failures,  ever  yet  made  a  man  strong.  It  made 
him  weak  that  he  might  become  strong,  and  when  it 
had  done  that  it  had  done  its  work.  For  strength 
there  must  be  hope,  for  strength  there  must  be  joy. 
If  the  arm  is  to  smite  with  vigour,  it  must  smite  at 
the  bidding  of  a  calm  and  light  heart.  Christian  work 
IS  of  such  a  sort  as  that  the  most  dangerous  opponent 
^  to  it  18  simple  despondency  and  simple  sorrow.  'The 
joy  of  the  Lord  is  your  strength.' 

Well,  then!  there  are  two  questions:  How  comes  it 
that  so  much  of  the  world's  joy  is  weakness  ?  and  how 
.  comes  It  that  so  much  of  the  world's  notion  of  religion 
IS  gloom  and  sadness?  Answer  them  for  yourselves, 
and  remember:  you  are  weak  unless  you  are  glad;' 
you  are  not  glad  and  strong  unless  your  faith  and 
,  hope  are  fixed  in  Christ,  and  unless  you  are  working 
from  and  not  towards  the  sense  of  pardon,  from  and 
not  towards  the  conviction  of  acceptance  with  God! 


SABBATH  OBSERVANCE 

*  Jin^in^*"«t  ^"7'  ""^  ^  '?  Z''**^  ^""^  treading  wine  presses  on  the  sabbath,  and 
bringing  in  sheaves,  and  lading  asses;  as  also  wine,  grapes,  and  figs  and  all 

ftJtr7  f  ^'''^T.i''^''^  '^"^  ^^°"^^t  i'^t"  Jerusalem  In  the  stSbath  day  aSd 
I  testified  against  them  in  the  day  wherein  they  sold  victuals.   16.  There  dweU  men 

«JZM  ,  ^.r'1'7^'''^ ^'^"S^*  ^'^'  ^°'i  ^"  '"^"^er  of  ware,  and  sord  on^Se 
sabbath  unto  the  children  of  Judah,  and  in  Jerusalem.  17.  Then  I  contended  with 
the  nobles  of  Judah,  and  said  unto  them.  What  evil  thing  is  tWs  that  ye  do  anS 


392      THE  BOOK  OF  NEHEMIAH     [ch.xiii. 

profaning  the  sabbath.  19.  And  it  came  to  pass,  that  when  the  gates  of  Jerusalem 
began  to  be  dark  before  the  sabbath,  I  commanded  that  the  gates  should  be  shut, 
and  charged  that  they  should  not  be  opened  till  after  the  sabbath :  and  some  of 
my  servants  set  I  at  the  gates,  that  there  should  no  burden  be  brought  in  on  the 
sabbath  day.  20.  So  the  merchants  and  sellers  of  all  kind  of  ware  lodged  without 
Jerusalem  once  or  twice.  21.  Then  I  testified  against  them,  and  said  unto  them. 
Why  lodge  ye  about  the  wall !  if  ye  do  so  again,  I  will  lay  hands  on  you.  From 
that  time  forth  came  they  no  more  on  the  sabbath.  22.  And  I  commanded  the 
Levites  that  they  should  cleanse  themselves,  and  that  they  should  come  and  keep 
the  gates,  to  sanctify  the  sabbath  day.  Remember  me,  O  my  God,  concerning 
this  also,  and  spare  me  according  to  the  greatness  of  Thy  mercy.'— Nbh.  xiii.  15-22. 

Many  religious  and  moral  reformations  depend  for 
their  vitality  on  one  man,  and  droop  if  his  influence  be 
withdrawn.  It  was  so  with  Nehemiah's  work.  He 
toiled  for  twelve  years  in  Jerusalem,  and  then  returned 
for  •  certain  days '  to  the  king  at  Babylon.  The  length 
of  his  absence  is  not  given  ;  but  it  was  long  enough  to 
let  much  of  his  work  be  undone,  and  to  give  him  much 
trouble  to  restore  it  to  the  condition  in  which  he  had 
left  it.  This  last  chapter  of  his  book  is  but  a  sad  close 
for  a  record  which  began  with  such  high  hope,  and 
tells  of  such  strenuous,  self-sacrificing  effort.  The  last 
page  of  many  a  reformer's  history  has  been,  like  Nehe- 
miah's, a  sad  account  of  efforts  to  stem  the  ebbing  tide 
of  enthusiasm  and  the  flowing  tide  of  worldliness.  The 
heavy  stone  is  rolled  a  little  way  up  hill,  and,  as  soon  as 
one  strong  hand  is  withdrawn,  down  it  tumbles  again 
to  its  old  place.  The  evanescence  of  great  men's  work 
makes  much  of  the  tragedy  of  history. 

Our  passage  is  particularly  concerned  with  Nehe- 
miah's efforts  to  enforce  Sabbath  observance.  The 
rest  of  the  chapter  is  occupied  with  similar  efforts  to 
set  right  other  irregularities  of  a  ceremonial  character, 
such  as  the  exclusion  of  Gentiles  from  the  Temple,  the 
exaction  of  the  •  portions  of  the  Levites,'  and  the  like. 
The  passage  falls  into  three  parts — the  abuse  (vs.  15, 
16),  the  vigorous  remedies  (vs.  17-22),  and  the  prayer 
(v.  22). 


vs.  15-22]     SABBATH  OBSERVANCE  893 

I.  The  abuse  consisted  in  Sabbath  work  and  trading. 
Nehemiah  found,  on  his  return,  that  the  people  '  in 
Judaea' — that  is,  in  the  country  districts — carried  on 
their  farm  labour  and  also  brought  their  produce  td 
market  to  Jerusalem  on  the  Sabbath.  So  he  *  testified 
against  them  in  the  day  wherein  they  sold  victuals'; 
that  is,  probably  meaning  that  he  warned  them  either 
in  person  or  by  messengers  before  taking  further  steps. 
Not  only  did  Jews  break  the  sacred  day,  but  they  let 
heathen  do  so  too.  The  narrative  tells,  with  a  kind 
of  horror,  the  many  aggravations  of  this  piece  of 
wickedness.  'They' — Gentiles  with  whom  contact 
defiled — '  sold  on  the  Sabbath ' — the  day  of  rest — '  to  the 
children  of  Judah' — God's  people— 'in  Jerusalem' — 
the  Holy  City.  It  was  a  many-barrelled  crime.  Tyre 
was  far  from  Jerusalem,  and  one  does  not  see  how  fish 
could  have  been  brought  in  good  condition.  Perhaps 
their  perishableness  was  the  excuse  for  allowing  their 
sale  on  the  Sabbath,  as  is  sometimes  the  case  in  fishing- 
villages  even  in  Sabbath-keeping  Scotland.  Such  was 
the  abuse  with  which  Nehemiah  struggled. 

It  is  easy  to  pooh-pooh  his  crusade  against  Sabbath 
labour  as  mere  scrupulousness  about  externals.  But  it 
is  a  blunder  and  an  injustice  to  a  noble  character  if  we 
forget  that  the  stage  of  revelation  at  which  he  stood 
necessarily  made  him  more  dependent  on  externals 
than  Christians  are  or  should  be.  But  his  vindication 
does  not  need  such  considerations.  He  had  a  truer 
insight  into  what  active  men  needed  for  vigorous 
working  days,  and  what  devout  men  needed  for  healthy 
religion,  than  many  moderns  who  smile  at  his  eager- 
ness about '  mere  externalisms.' 

It  is  easy  to  ridicule  the  Jewish  Sabbath  and  'the 
Puritan  Sunday.'     No  doubt  there  have  been  and  are 


394      THE  BOOK  OF  NEHEMIAH     [ch.xiii. 

well-meant  but  mistaken  efforts  to  insist  on  too  rigid 
observance.  No  doubt  it  has  been  often  forgotten  by 
good  people  that  the  Christian  Lord's  Day  is  not  the 
Jewish  Sabbath.  Of  course  the  religious  observance  of 
the  day  is  not  a  fit  subject  for  legislation.  But  the 
need  for  a  seventh  day  of  rest  is  impressed  on  our 
physical  and  intellectual  nature ;  and  devout  hearts 
will  joyfully  find  their  best  rest  in  Christian  worship 
and  service.  The  vigour  of  religious  life  demands 
special  seasons  set  apart  for  worship.  Unless  there  be 
such  reservoirs  along  the  road,  there  will  be  but  a 
thin  trickle  of  a  brook  by  the  way.  It  is  all  very 
well  to  talk  about  religion  diffused  through  the  life, 
but  it  will  not  be  so  diffused  unless  it  is  concentrated 
at  certain  times. 

They  are  no  benefactors  to  the  community  who  seek 
to  break  down  and  relax  the  stringency  of  the  pro- 
hibition of  labour.  If  once  the  idea  that  Sunday  is  a 
day  of  amusement  take  root,  the  amusement  of  some 
will  require  the  hard  work  of  others,  and  the  custom 
of  work  will  tend  to  extend,  tiU  rest  becomes  the  ex- 
ception, and  work  the  rule.  There  never  was  a  time 
when  men  lived  so  furiously  fast  as  now.  The  pace  of 
modern  life  demands  Sunday  rest  more  than  ever.  If 
a  railway  car  is  run  continually  it  will  wear  out  sooner 
than  if  it  were  laid  aside  for  a  day  or  two  occasionally ; 
and  if  it  is  run  at  express  speed  it  will  need  the  rest 
more.  We  are  all  going  at  top  speed ;  and  there  would 
be  more  breakdowns  if  it  were  not  for  that  blessed 
institution  which  some  people  think  they  are  promot- 
ing the  public  good  by  destroying — a  seventh  day  of 
rest. 

Our  great  trading  centres  in  England  have  the 
same    foreign     element    to    complicate    matters     as 


vs.  15-22]     SABBATH  OBSERVANCE  395 

Nehemiah  had  to  deal  with.  The  Tyrian  fishmongers 
knew  and  cared  nothing  for  Israel's  Jehovah  or 
Sabbath,  and  their  presence  would  increase  the  ten- 
dency to  disregard  the  day.  So  with  us,  foreigners 
of  many  nationalities,  but  alike  in  their  disregard 
of  our  religious  observances,  leaven  the  society,  and 
help  to  mould  the  opinions  and  practices,  of  our 
great  cities.  That  is  a  very  real  source  of  danger 
in  regard  to  Sabbath  observance  and  many  other 
things ;  and  Christian  people  should  be  on  their  guard 
against  it. 

II.  The  vigorous  remedies  applied  by  Nehemiah  were 
administered  first  to  the  rulers.  He  sent  for  the  nobles, 
and  laid  the  blame  at  their  doors.  *Ye  profane  the 
day,'  said  he.  Men  in  authority  are  responsible  for 
crimes  which  they  could  check,  but  prefer  to  wink  at. 
Nehemiah  seems  to  trace  all  the  national  calamities  to 
the  breach  of  the  Sabbath ;  but  of  course  he  is  simply 
laying  stress  on  the  sin  about  which  he  is  speaking,  as 
any  man  who  sets  himself  earnestly  to  work  to  fight 
any  form  of  evil  is  apt  to  do.  Then  the  men  who  are 
not  in  earnest  cry  out  about  'exaggeration.'  Many 
other  sins  besides  Sabbath-breaking  had  a  share  in 
sending  Israel  into  captivity;  and  if  Nehemiah  had 
been  fighting  with  idolatrous  tendencies  he  would  have 
isolated  idolatry  as  the  cause  of  its  calamities,  just  as, 
when  fighting  against  Sabbath-breaking,  he  emphasises 
that  sin. 

Nehemiah  was  governor  for  the  Persian  king,  and 
so  had  a  right  to  rate  these  nobles.  In  this  day  the 
people  have  the  same  right,  and  there  are  many  social 
sins  for  which  they  should  arraign  civic  and  other 
authorities.  Christian  principles  unflinchingly  insisted 
on  by  Christian  people,  and  brought  to  bear,  by  ballot- 


396      THE  BOOK  OF  NEHEMIAH     [ch.xiii. 

boxes  and  other  persuasive  ways,  on  what  stands  for 
conscience  in  some  high  places,  would  make  a  wonder- 
ful difference  on  many  of  the  abominations  of  our 
cities.  Go  to  the  '  nobles '  first,  and  lay  the  burden  on 
the  backs  that  ought  to  carry  it. 

Then  Nehemiah  took  practical  measures  by  shutting 
the  city  gates  on  the  eve  of  the  Sabbath,  and  putting 
some  of  his  own  servants  as  a  watch.  The  thing  seems 
to  have  been  done  without  any  notice;  so  when  the 
country  folk  came  in,  as  usual,  on  the  Sabbath,  they 
could  not  get  into  the  city,  and  camped  outside,  making 
a  visible  temptation  to  the  citizens,  to  slip  out  and  do  a 
little  business,  if  they  could  manage  to  elude  the 
guards.  Once  or  twice  this  happened ;  and  then  Nehe- 
miah himself  seems  to  have  taken  them  in  hand,  with 
a  very  plain  and  sufficiently  emphatic  warning :  *  If  ye 
do  so  again,  I  will  lay  hands  on  you.' 

Of  course, '  from  that  time  they  came  no  more  on  the 
Sabbath,'  as  was  natural  after  such  a  volley.  A  man 
with  a  good  strong  will  is  apt  to  get  his  own  way,  even 
when  he  is  not  clothed  with  the  authority  of  a  governor. 
Then  Nehemiah  strengthened  the  guard,  or  perhaps 
withdrew  his  own  servants  and  substituted  for  them 
Levites,  whose  official  position  would  put  them  in  full 
sympathy  with  his  efforts.  That  priestly  guard  would 
be  inflexible,  and  with  its  appointment  the  abuse 
appears  to  have  been  crushed. 

The  example  of  Nehemiah's  enforcing  Sabbath  obser- 
vance is  not  to  be  taken  as  a  pattern  for  Christian 
communities,  without  many  limitations.  But  it  appears 
to  the  present  writer  that  it  is  perfectly  legitimate  for 
the  civil  power  to  insist  upon,  and  if  necessary  to  en- 
force, the  observance  of  Sunday  as  a  day  of  rest ;  and 
that,  since  legitimate,  it  is  for  the  well-being  of  the 


vs.  15-22]    SABBATH  OBSERVANCE  397 

community  that  it  should  do  so.  Tyrians  might  believe 
anything  they  chose,  and  use  the  day  of  rest  as  they 
thought  proper,  so  long  as  they  did  not  sell  fish  on  it. 
We  do  not  interfere  with  religious  convictions  when 
we  enjoin  Sunday  observance.  Nehemiah's  argument 
has  sometimes  to  be  used,  even  about  such  a  matter : 
*  If  ye  do  so  again,  I  will  lay  hands  on  you.' 

The  methods  adopted  may  yield  suggestions  for  all  who 
would  aim  at  reforming  abuses  or  public  immoralities. 
One  most  necessary  step  is  to  cut  off,  as  far  as  possible, 
opportunities  for  the  sin.  There  will  be  no  trade  if  you 
shut  the  gates  the  night  before.  There  will  be  little 
drunkenness  if  there  are  no  liquor  shops.  It  is  quite 
true  that  people  cannot  be  made  virtuous  by  legisla- 
tion, but  it  is  also  true  that  they  may  be  saved  from 
temptations  to  become  vicious  by  it. 

Another  hint  comes  from  Nehemiah's  vigorous  word 
to  the  country  folk  outside  the  wall.  There  is  need 
for  very  strong  determination  and  much  sanctified 
obstinacy  in  fighting  popular  abuses.  They  die  hard. 
It  is  permissible  to  invoke  the  aid  of  the  lawful 
authority.  But  a  man  with  strong  convictions  and 
earnest  purpose  will  be  able  to  impress  his  convictions 
on  a  mass,  even  if  he  have  no  guards  at  his  back.  The 
one  thing  needful  for  Christian  reformers  is,  not  the 
power  to  appeal  to  force,  but  the  force  which  they  can 
carry  within  them.  And  it  is  better  when  the  traders 
love  the  Sabbath  too  well  to  wish  to  drive  bargains  on 
it,  than  when  they  are  hindered  from  doing  as  they 
wish  by  Nehemiah's  strong  will  or  formidable  threats. 

Once  more,  the  guard  of  Levites  may  suggest  that 
the  execution  of  measures  for  the  reformation  of 
manners  or  morals  is  best  entrusted  to  those  who  are 
in  sympathy  with  them.    Levites  made  faithful  watch- 


398      THE  BOOK  OF  NEHEMIAH     [ch.xiii. 

men.  Many  a  promising  measure  for  reformation  has 
come  to  nothing  because  committed  to  the  hands  of 
functionaries  who  did  not  care  for  its  success.  The 
instruments  are  almost  as  important  as  the  measures 
which  they  carry  out. 

III.  Nehemiah's  prayer  occurs  thrice  in  this  chapter, 
at  the  close  of  each  section  recounting  his  reforming 
acts.  In  the  first  instance  (v.  14)  it  is  most  full,  and 
puts  very  plainly  the  merit  of  good  deeds  as  a  plea  with 
God.  The  same  thing  is  implied  in  its  form  in  verse 
22.  But  while,  no  doubt,  the  tone  of  the  prayer  is 
starthng  to  us,  and  is  not  such  as  should  be  offered  now 
by  Christians,  it  but  echoes  the  principle  of  retribution 
which  underlies  the  law.  '  This  do,  and  thou  shalt  live,' 
was  the  very  foundation  of  Nehemiah's  form  of  God's 
revelation.  We  do  not  plead  our  own  merits,  because 
we  are  not  under  the  law,  but  under  grace,  and  the 
principle  underlying  the  gospel  is  life  by  impartation 
of  unmerited  mercy  and  divine  life.  But  the  law  of 
retribution  still  remains  valid  for  Christians  in  so 
far  as  that  God  will  never  forget  any  of  their  works, 
and  will  give  them  full  recompense  for  their  work  of 
faith  and  labour  of  love.  Eternal  life  here  and  here- 
after is  wholly  the  gift  of  God ;  but  that  fact  does 
not  exclude  the  notion  of  '  the  recompense  of  reward ' 
from  the  Christian  conception  of  the  future.  It  be- 
comes not  us  to  present  our  good  deeds  before  the 
Judge,  since  they  are  stained  and  imperfect,  and  the 
goodness  in  them  is  His  gift.  But  it  becomes  Him  to 
crown  them  with  His  gracious  approbation,  and  to  pro- 
portion the  cities  ruled  in  that  future  world  to  the 
talents  faithfully  used  here.  We  need  not  be  afraid 
of  obscuring  the  truth  that  we  are  saved  'not  of 
works,  lest  any  man  should  boast,'  though  we  insist 


vs.  15-22]    SABBATH  OBSERVANCE  399 

that  a  Christian    man  is  rewarded  according  to  his 
works. 

Nehemiah  had  no  false  notion  of  his  own  goodness ; 
for,  while  he  asked  for  recompense  for  these  good  deeds 
of  his,  he  could  not  but  add, '  Spare  me  according  to  the 
greatness  of  Thy  mercy.'  He  who  asks  to  be  *  spared ' 
must  know  himself  in  peril  of  destruction ;  and  he  who 
invokes  '  mercy '  must  think  that,  if  he  were  dealt  with 
according  to  justice,  he  would  be  in  evil  case.  So  the 
consciousness  of  weakness  and  sin  is  an  integral  part 
of  this  prayer,  and  that  takes  all  the  apparent  self- 
righteousness  out  of  the  previous  petition.  However 
worthy  of  and  sure  of  reward  a  Christian  man's  acts  of 
love  and  efforts  for  the  spread  of  God's  honour  may  be, 
the  doer  of  them  must  still  be  '  looking  for  the  mercy 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  unto  eternal  life.' 


QATEDUE 


